Sweatpants, Ice Cream, and Runaways
by BackstabberEm
Summary: Lily rejected James's proposal the day of graduation and fled to Australia. James is having a tough time getting over her. What happens when they see each other again four years after Hogwarts? Will being friends bring back old memories? !COMPLETE!
1. Triplets and Toothbrushes

_**Sweatpants, Ice Cream, and Runaways**_

_This story takes place 4 years after MWPP and Lily attended Hogwarts. Hope you like it! _

_  
Disclaimer: Anything you recognize doesn't belong to me. It belongs to that woman we all idolize, J.K Rowling.__**  
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"_No_, listen to me one more time Sirius," James said, pushing the door open to the bar. "Tammi, Terri, and Toni may be triplets but they will never, _ever_ have a foursome with you."

"Oh c'mon, are you sure about that?" Sirius asked.

"_Yes_," James said. "Now, let's get a few beers in you before you start asking me where babies come from."

Sirius laughed and sat down on a bar stool.

"So, how did your date with Patrice go?" James asked, taking a sip of his beer.

Sirius shrugged. "The usual."

"Party, drinking, back to our flat, sex?" James asked.

"Is that _all _you think of me?" Sirius asked. "A womanizer who isn't happy until he has sex? Because let me tell you, that's not _all _I am."

"Oh…so you didn't have sex with her?" James asked.

"Oh no, I did," Sirius said, making James laugh.

"Ugh," James groaned out. "You're twenty-two and have already been with half of London."

"That's not true," Sirius said. "I haven't even _been _to the East side." James rolled his eyes at Sirius. But Sirius didn't notice because he was too busy looking at the entrance. "Oooh, don't look now, but a gorgeous lady just walked in."

James turned his head to see who Sirius was talking about. "Look at those legs."

"Forget the legs," Sirius said. "Look at those boo-"

"Do _not _finish that sentence," James pleaded. Sirius and James laughed as they watched the women take off her coat and walk to the other side of the bar.

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late," Remus said, walking into the bar. "I decided to get us doughnuts."

"So…where are they?" James asked, looking at Remus's empty hands.

"I ate them," Remus said with a shrug and sitting down beside James. "Your doughnut had coconut and I know how much you hate coconut. I was doing you a favor."

"Sh, sh, sh," Sirius said quickly, "The woman is coming over."

"What woman?" Remus whispered to James.

James just rolled his eyes and watched Sirius get up and walk a few feet over to the woman.

"Oh, lemme guess," Remus said. "Sirius has already found a girl he wants to take home."

"Wouldn't expect anything less from Si," James said with a laugh.

* * *

"Jeez, he's been talking to that woman for more than an hour," Remus muttered, glancing over at Sirius flirting with the girl.

"I'm surprised he hasn't convinced her to come back to the flat yet," James said, rolling his eyes. He turned away from looking at Sirius and looked up at Remus. "So how's the love life of Remus?"

"You live down the hall…how do you _think_ it's going?" Remus asked.

"Don't worry, you'll find that special someone," James said with a shrug.

"I doubt that," Remus said. "Unless she's hairy, has fangs, and howls at the moon."

James laughed. "Even if she was like that, she'd be better than all the girls Sirius brings home."

Remus snorted and asked, "So what about you? I can't even remember the last time you brought a girl home."

James shrugged and stared intently at his empty glass. "I just haven't found that special person."

Remus sighed. "It's been four years James. You have to move on."

James didn't look up and just mumbled, "I know."

"I noticed the box of pictures in the garbage," Remus said.

"It took me four years, but I'm ready to throw them out," James said.

"I don't think that's the best idea," Remus advised. "Those are all of your Hogwarts memories. All of _our _Hogwarts memories."

"Yeah, and she's in most of them," James said. "I don't want to talk about her."

"Okay," Remus said. "What about we-"

"I just don't under_stand _her. I can't believe she _did_ that to me," James exclaimed.

"So…I guess we're not done not talking about it?" Remus asked.

"She just gave up on us," James said. "She never gave us a _shot_."

"James, she had a really hard choice to make," Remus explained.

"It's not hard. Don't you watch movies? In every movie, the girl picks _love _over their job," James pointed out.

"Yes, but we live in a world I like to call reality."

"Well I hate this world. Can't we go to any world other than reality?" James pouted.

"We _could _but-" Remus started.

"Hey guys, I'm leaving now," Sirius said.

"Back to our flat?" Remus asked with a groan.

"Actually no, we're going back to her place," Sirius said with a shrug.

"Have fun," Remus said, rolling his eyes because he was used to this by now.

"I am _soo _sorry I'm late," Peter said, rushing in.

"You didn't miss anything," Remus said. "James complaining about Lily and Sirius picking up women."

"Wo_man_," Sirius corrected. "Only one tonight…and James?"

"Hmm?" James asked, looking up.

"You _really _need to get lai-" Sirius started.

"Good-bye!" James exclaimed quickly, pushing Sirius out of the way.

* * *

"Sorry about the boxes. My friend is moving in."

"That's okay Kyra," Sirius said with a shrug. "Your house still looks neater than our place."

"Oh, you have someone moving in also?" Kyra asked.

"No." Kyra looked at Sirius and laughed. Sirius shrugged. "Three guys living together is just a bad combination."

"So, do you want some cake?" Kyra asked, walking into the kitchen.

"You have cake?" Sirius asked, sitting down at a table.

"Of course," Kyra said with a shrug. She opened the fridge and Sirius gawked.

"Oh my gosh…there's actually stuff _in _your fridge!"

Kyra laughed and got out the cake and two beers. She handed Sirius a beer who opened it and took a swig. "So, what do you do Kyra?"

"I write for the Daily Prophet," she said, handing Sirius a plate with chocolate cake on it and sitting up on the countertop. 'What about you?"

"I'm a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at the local community college," Sirius said.

"What are you best at?" Kyra asked.

"What do you mean?" Sirius asked.

"Well if you had to describe what you are strongest at, what would it be?"

"I'm really good at making up excuses," Sirius teased.

"Oh yeah?" Kyra said with a laugh.

"Yup, especially at Hogwarts. I was always able to get out of classes…although the Headmaster told me that if my grandfather died one more time, he wanted to see the body," Sirius said with a laugh.

Kyra laughed. "Not exactly the answer I was looking for." Sirius shrugged and Kyra looked over at Sirius and smiled. "So Sirius, should we skip the small talk and go straight to the sex?" Kyra asked, causing Sirius to spit out his beer.

"Ex_cuse _me?" he asked.

"What? You thought I didn't see right through your nice guy act at the bar?" Kyra asked with a smirk.

"And yet you still brought me home," Sirius said.

Kyra shrugged. "Nothing wrong with wanting sex," Kyra said with a laugh.

Sirius gaped at her. "You're like a _god_." Sirius and Kyra laughed. "Oh, and I _am_ a nice guy."

"And I'm a nice girl," Kyra said, leaping off the counter. "But somehow, I have the feeling that neither one of us will get to know the other."

Sirius watched her as she ate the last of her cake. He got up and walked over to her to place his things in the sink. "I don't know…you seem different from all of my other dates."

"You mean all your other one night stands?" Kyra asked.

"Technicalities," Sirius said with a shrug, kissing Kyra on the lips, not even caring if they just hung out and talked.

* * *

Sirius skipped into the apartment the next morning. When he walked in two pairs of eyes stared back at him. "I found the women of my dreams." And then he went into his bedroom and shut the door.

Remus glanced at James. "Was that conversation over?"

James just shrugged his shoulders confusingly. "Uh…_Padfoot!_"

Sirius opened the door. "Oh thank _god_. I thought you were going to make me leave it at that."

"Okay so what sets this woman apart from the hundreds of others?" James asked as Sirius sat on the couch beside them.

"She actually made me _breakfast_," Sirius explained.

"That doesn't make her _different_," James said. "And knowing the girls you date it was bad coffee and a pop tart."

"Nooo this one can actually _cook_."

"So it was gourmet coffee, bacon, eggs, and waffles?" James asked.

"No no no, you have it all wrong," Sirius said. "There was no bacon."

Remus hit Sirius with a pillow. "That's all? Now Sirius, I _know _you like food, but you can't base a relationship solely on food."

"Yeah, but you didn't taste her waffles!" Sirius exclaimed, getting hit once again with a pillow. "No, she understood me. We actually _talked_ and we _didn't _have sex-"

"You spent all night at her place and _didn't _have sex?" James asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Yes, we just spent all night _talking _and just hanging out. The strange thing was, there was nothing else I would have rather been doing," Sirius said.

"Talking?" James asked.

"Okay, it sounds crazy but-"

"Talking?" James asked again.

"Okay you _really _need a new word in your vocabulary," Sirius said. "It was as if Kyra knew me. We got back to her place and she offered me _cake. Cake!"_

Okay, once again you are basing this realtionship solely on food," Remus said, rolling his eyes.

"She made me laugh. She made me feel _good _about myself. It was just…_different. _And-"

"So…does that mean Tammi, Terri, and Toni are out of the picture?" James joked.

Sirius laughed and threw a pillow at James. "This girl is perfect. Haven't you ever found that one person and just _know _she was the one?"

James looked down at his hands and Sirius mentally kicked himself. "Oh look, let's talk about someth—hey, where'd the Hogwarts picture go?" Sirius asked.

Remus and James turned to see Sirius staring at an empty frame hanging up on the wall. "James decided to get rid of it."

"It's just junk," James said.

"My precious Hogwarts memories to you is _junk_?" Sirius asked.

"No, _Lily _is junk," James said.

Remus and Sirius exchanged glances and sighed. "Prongs, you're going to have to get over her sometime."

"I _am_ over her," James said. "In fact, I am _so_ over her that I threw away any pictures of her and anything that reminds me of her."

"That's not getting over her…that's trying to kill her through voodoo," Sirius said.

* * *

"Where the hell is my toothbrush?" Sirius shouted from the bathroom.

"It was red!" James exclaimed from the kitchen.

Remus, who was just coming out of his room, exchanged glances with Sirius. "And red toothbrushes are bad for the economy?" Sirius guessed.

"Lily had red hair," James said, coming around the corner.

"Still not understanding…" Sirius said.

"It reminded me of her."

"You threw out anything _red?_" Sirius exclaimed.

"And green," James said, walking away.

"Oh right because green is _so _out of fashion," Sirius said sarcastically.

"I'm guessing it's 'cause Lily had green eyes," Remus said.

"That too," Sirius said.

"Wait…_my _toothbrush was green," Remus said, rushing to the bathroom.

"Not anymore," Sirius mumbled.

"You got me a _pink _toothbrush?" Remus cried out to James, knowing perfectly well he wasn't going to respond.

Sirius burst out laughing and walked into the bathroom. Sirius stopped laughing. "You got me a _purple _toothbrush?" Sirius shouted and it was Remus's turn to laugh at Sirius.

Sirius placed his toothbrush on the counter and sighed. "This is getting out of hand. Why is he all of a sudden doing all of this?"

Remus thought about that for awhile. "What day is it?"

"June 30th."

Remus sighed. "Yesterday was the four year anniversary of the day Prongs asked Lily to marry him."

"And she said no and picked working in Australia over him," Sirius finished. Remus nodded. Sirius sat down on the side of the bathtub. "I really miss her."

Remus nodded in agreement and sighed. "So does Prongs."

Sirius and Remus didn't speak for a few minutes. "So Rem…" Sirius started. "When's the appropriate time to call a woman if you were just with her three nights ago?"

"Yesterday," Remus teased. Sirius threw a towel at him.

"I'm serious," Sirius said. Remus opened his mouth but Sirius quickly continued, "And _no _I'm not talking about my name."

Remus rolled his eyes. "You really like this one, huh?"

"All I know is that I love her waffles," Sirius said.

"Sirius not even _you _would keep going back just for the food," Remus said. Sirius opened his mouth but Remus didn't let him speak, "Unless it was gourmet chocolate."

Sirius shrugged. "This one's different."

"I can see that," Remus said.

"The only thing is, I think she thinks that she _wasn't _different," Sirius said.

"So…call her and tell her that she _is _different," Remus said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Sirius gasped. "You can actually _say _that to a woman?"

Remus rolled his eyes. "_Yes_."

"But doesn't that screw things up?" Sirius asked.

"Screw whatup? You don't _have_ anything yet," Remus pointed out.

"Okay, but James put his heart out on the line and look where that got him…" Sirius started and both Sirius and Remus said together, "Nowhere."

"What are you guys doing in the bathroom?" James asked, coming in with his cup of coffee.

"Nothing," they said really fast.

"Please tell me you aren't showering together," James pleaded.

"Ew! Of course not," Sirius exclaimed. "...we haven't done that since kindergarten."

Remus and James laughed at Sirius's joke.

"So really, what are you doing in the bathroom?" James asked.

"It's a nice, cozy place to talk," Sirius said with a shrug.

"So's a couch," James pointed out.

"Well then I have an idea," Sirius said.

"Go into the living room and continue our conversation there?" Remus asked.

"I was _going _to say that we should put a couch in here," Sirius said. "But your idea is probably better."

"Sirius," Remus said while rolling his eyes. "My ideas are _always _better."

Sirius, Remus, and James laughed as they exited the bathroom.

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_I know it's been awhile since I've posted something, so here's a treat for all you fans. Don't forget to review!_


	2. First Date and Insult Sirius Day

_**Sweatpants, Ice Cream, and Runaways  
Chapter 2  
**_

_If you read the other chapter, you know what it's about (or you're starting to at least). Sorry I haven't posted much lately, I just had my spring break. It was fun and I needed it really badly. Well...hope you enjoy the story!_

_Disclaimer: You guys aren't dumb, you know what belongs to me and what doesn't._

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"Sirius?" Kyra exclaimed, obviously surprised to see him at her front door.

"Okay, I know this must look weird," Sirius said. "Me actually here for the second time…_willingly_."

Kyra laughed. "No, I understand…you came for my waffles."

"God, you know me so well," Sirius teased.

"Although, I hate to say this but…I don't make waffles at seven in the evening," Kyra said.

"Damn…then I guess I'll just have to settle for you," Sirius said.

"I just thought that our night of talking and bonding was just a fluke," Kyra said. "I told myself not to worry about it and to still think of you fondly..." Sirius gave her a look. "…as a major git."

Sirius smiled. "Well…I'm back."

"But why?"

"I thought I already made that clear." Kyra just gave him a look. "Because," Sirius shrugged. "I like you. And I am here to take you out to dinner."

"Sirius," Kyra said simply.

"Don't Sirius me," Sirius taunted. "Come out with me. Please?"

Kyra looked at Sirius suspiciously but shrugged. "Let me get my coat."

Sirius smiled widely and did a little dance in his mind.

* * *

As Sirius and Kyra was seated she looked over and smiled at Sirius. "And here I thought we were going to McDonalds."

Sirius laughed. "Amazing how thoughtful I am huh?"

It was Kyra's turn to laugh. "So Sirius, tell me the real reason you came back."

Sirius looked at Kyra sincerely. "You're different. You make me laugh, I actually en_joyed _talking to you. You're fun to be around." Sirius shrugged. "In short, you make me feel _good _about myself."

Kyra looked at him apprehensively. "So…did you practice that speech in front of a mirror twenty times?"

Sirius gasped. "I'm appalled that you would say that!" Sirius smiled. "I only practiced it _twice_."

Kyra laughed. "Well however many times you practiced it, I liked it. And thanks. But what's the catch?"

"You _really _can't believe that I'm being honest can you?" Sirius asked, ordering wine for the both of them.

Kyra shrugged. "I know your type."

"My blood type? I'm O positive," Sirius said.

Kyra rolled her eyes. "_No_, the type that sleeps with a woman and never plans on seeing her again. The type that _doesn't _want to see her again. And don't tell me I'm wrong, that's exactly who you are."

"Correction, that's who I _was_," Sirius contested. "And let me ask _you _Miss Kyra, when's the last time you had a long relationship?"

Kyra winced. "It's not important."

"Well obviously it is," Sirius pointed out. "Because this jerk made you doubt all other men."

"What jerk?" Kyra asked.

"Whatever guy you last dated," Sirius explained. "I'm guessing you didn't always question guys' motives when they tried talking to you."

Kyra looked down at her hands. "His name was Geoffrey and it ended a little over a year ago. So it's over and we can stop talking about it."

Sirius decided not to push it. "Well whoever he was, he was a jerk for letting you go."

Kyra shrugged but didn't say anything.

"But," Sirius said, reaching for Kyra's hand. "I'm feeling very glad that he did."

* * *

James and Remus looked up as the door slammed shut and there stood Sirius looking as giddy as ever.

"Whoa, you're home early," James said.

"It's 2 AM," Sirius noted. "This isn't early."

"Yeah, that's early," James pointed out. "_Usually _you come home in the morning."

Sirius just rolled his eyes and sat down next to the guys on the couch.

"How was the date?" Remus asked.

"Wonderful."

"Date?" James asked.

"Oh yeah Sirius went on a date," Remus said.

"Sirius dates?"

"Apparently," Remus said.

"Okay, no need to act like I'm not here," Sirius said.

"But a date means _he _pays for dinner," James said, ignoring Sirius. "A date is _more _than sex. A date means conversation, and enjoyment…did I mention it means _more _than just having sex?"

"I know. It's strange thinking about Sirius _talking_ with a woman before he brings her to bed," Remus said.

"Oookay, I'm still _right _here," Sirius spoke up.

Remus looked over at him. "Oh…hi." Sirius rolled his eyes but looked at Remus when he heard him asking, "What was this…your _first _date?"

Sirius threw a pillow at Remus. "I've _dated _before," Sirius retorted. "Remember back in third year when I actually thought dating was worthwhile?"

"You haven't been on a date since _third year_?" James asked.

Sirius shrugged. "I said I _dated _before. I didn't say I dated a _lot_."

"Okay, so you haven't dated for awhile, so how can you tell that it was wonderful. Do you even know what a wonderful date is supposed to _be _like?" James asked.

"Okay, I've had enough of 'insult Sirius day'," Sirius said with a shrug.

"But if we don't insult you…what else would we do with our lives?" James asked.

"Move on to 'insult James day,'" Sirius teased.

"I like 'insult Sirius day' _much _better," James joked.

Sirius just pouted but didn't say anything. Remus spoke up. "Okay, okay. Tell us about this wonderful date of yours."

"_If _that's what you want to call it," James interfered.

Sirius chose to ignore James. "It was perfect. She's perfect. _We _are perfect."

"Well…um, okay?" James said slowly and Sirius just gave him a look. James shrugged. "I don't know what to say."

"Perfect?" Remus suggested. The three guys laughed.

"No, it's just strange hearing about you dating. I don't know what to really say in this situation," James said.

"Yeah, it is kind of strange," Remus said and then turned to Sirius. "Are you _sure _you took her to dinner?"

"Okay, no, I'm lying. We just had chicken in her bed," Sirius said sarcastically.

"Really?" Remus asked.

"I want chicken," James said. Remus and Sirius gave James blank stares. "What? I'm hungry!"

"I _really _took her to dinner. And we talked for seven hours and-"

"Are you telling me that _you _Sirius Black just talked for the entire time you were gone? You've been out with this girl twice and you haven't had _sex _yet?" James asked.

"_Yes_ that's what I'm saying," Sirius said.

Remus and James exchanged glances. "He must really like this girl."

"Okay, I thought I made that apparent," Sirius noted.

"I'm sorry but when you say something, it's hard to determine if you're actually being serious or not," Remus said.

"What? Why?" Sirius exclaimed.

"Well, for one thing you thought Tammi, Terri, and Toni were your soul mates," James said bluntly.

Sirius paused for a second. "Okay, so maybe _sometimes _my thoughts go beyond reality…"

"Sometimes?" James asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Okay, okay. _Most _of the time," Sirius said. "But I'm telling you, Kyra's different."

James gasped. "She _must _be different. You actually know her first name!"

The three guys laughed as Sirius threw a pillow at James.

* * *

Remus walked past Sirius's room, stopped, backtracked, and looked into the room. "Sirius?" Sirius jumped and looked at Remus with an innocent smile. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," he said quickly.

Remus gave Sirius a look.

"Okay, okay," Sirius said. "I'm going over to see Kyra and I'm practicing my smiles."

"Your _smiles_?" Remus asked, trying hard not to laugh. Remus sat down on Sirius's bed and just shook his head.

"Okay, no need to make fun of me," Sirius said before Remus could speak up.

"You know, I'm thinking Kyra likes more about you then your smile," Remus said.

"Yes, but the _smile _is the first thing women see," Sirius said, turning around and leaning against his bureau and facing Remus. "Actually wait no, that's with other guys. The first thing women see in me is my great body, great hair, wonder-"

"Okay, I think I can literally see your head getting bigger," Remus said with a laugh.

"No!" Sirius exclaimed jokingly. "You don't think Kyra will notice, do you?"

Remus laughed and rolled his eyes at Sirius. "Have you talked to her since your date two nights ago?" Remus asked.

"No, I flooed over to her fireplace yesterday, but no one was home," Sirius said with a shrug. "So I'm just going to go over there and surprise her."

Remus smiled. "And you figure if you went over there around dinner time, you'd get a real meal," Remus stated, already knowing the answer.

"I'm _shocked _that you would say that," Sirius said and then shrugged. "But it's true."

"Well I'm glad you've decided to finally _date _a woman," Remus said. "Some of those women I'd see in the morning drinking _my _coffee and eating _my_ pop tart were pretty disgusting. And they would be sitting there in nothing but one of your shirts."

"Yeah," Sirius said dreamily. "I wish those women would stop taking my shirts home. I think I'm going to have to result in going naked soon."

"You're naked about seventy-five percent of the day anyway," Remus said with a shrug. "Why not just go naked for the other twenty-five percent?"

"Can I _do _that?" Sirius exclaimed jokingly.

"I think your boss would have a hard time with it," Remus said.

"Damn…if only he was female." Remus laughed and Sirius continued talking, "Do you think Prongs is going to be okay? He seems kind of distant lately."

"He just misses Lily," Remus said with a shrug. "I think he wishes it was him that was dating, not you. And not just dating anyone…dating _Lily_."

Sirius slumped down on his bed next to Remus. "I know. I just wish there was something I could do."

"He wishes that too," Remus pointed out.

"What are you guys talking about?" James asked, stopping in the doorway.

"Girls," Sirius said immediately at the same time as Remus exclaimed, "Quidditch."

Sirius turned to Remus and rolled his eyes. "Quidditch? No way, girls is a _much _better lie."

"And more believable too," Remus teased.

"So what were you _really _talking about?" James asked.

Sirius sighed and then turned to Remus. "Should we tell him?" Remus shrugged so Sirius looked sincerely up at James. "We were talking about doughnuts."

* * *

As Sirius knocked on the front door he couldn't believe that he was actually nervous. As Kyra opened the door he gave a goofy smile. "Housekeeping?" he said, making Kyra laugh. Kyra took Sirius's arm, brought him into the house and shut the front door behind him. Kyra looked up at Sirius and smiled. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed Sirius.

"Come in, my roommate is cooking. You can eat dinner with us," Kyra said. Sirius smiled secretly to himself.

"You actually _make _dinner?" Sirius exclaimed, taking off his jacket. "Wow…we should try that sometime, although I'm sure the takeout people would go out of business."

"Hey Kyra?" a voice called from the kitchen. "Do we have any salt left?"

The roommate came into the room, looked up at Sirius and dropped her pot by mistake.

Sirius looked up and accidentally dropped his jacket.

"Sirius?" the woman asked.

"_Lily Evans?" _Sirius exclaimed.

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_Wow, I'm just plain evil. But if I get lots of reviews, I'll post the new chapter sooner!_


	3. Red and Blue Do Make Purple

_**Sweatpants, Ice Cream, and Runaways  
Chapter 3**_

_Thanks to the 10 people who reviewed, hopefully more people will review this chapter or maybe I won't continue...(wow I'm evil at this blackmail thing arent I?).  
Disclaimer: Whatever you recognize unforunately doesn't belong to me._

_In case you forgot, we left off here:_

"Sirius?" the women asked.

"_Lily Evans?" _Sirius exclaimed.

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"Uh…do you guys know each other?" Kyra asked.

"Oh no, not really," Sirius said sarcastically. "She just dated my best friend for a year and left him standing at the train station when he asked her to marry him because she thought work was more important than love." Sirius turned to Lily. "Does that just about cover everything?"

Lily stared at Sirius in awe before she could speak up. "Now that's not fair Sirius."

"Not _fair_?" Sirius exclaimed. "My best friend is _still _miserable because of you. And you leave so who has to deal with it? _Me_."

"Sirius! It was a tough decision! But James and I were too _young_," Lily cried out. "And the internship was a _great _opportunity!"

"Oh really? Because you seem to be _back _from Australia! Obviously it couldn't have been _that _great of an opportunity!"

"I was _transferred!_" Lily shouted.

"Face it Lily! You were _selfish, _you didn't care about anyone's feelings but your own!" Sirius screamed.

"GUYS!" Kyra exclaimed.

Lily looked over at Kyra and looked down to see her reach for Sirius's hand. "Ooooh no. No, no, no, no, no."

"No what?" Kyra asked.

"Are you guys in_volved_?" Lily asked. Sirius and Kyra just looked at each other but didn't have an answer. Lily groaned and continued. "Kyra, there are a few things you need to know about this guy."

"I've _changed _Lily," Sirius said stubbornly and then stared right into Lily's eyes. "I see that we all have."

"Ky, this guy is the biggest player of them all-"

"Lily," Kyra said tiredly. "I've heard enough. Let's just eat okay?"

"Well, that's kind of hard," Lily said, looking down at her dinner.

Sirius looked over at Kyra. "Guess it's takeout after all huh?"

Lily was disgusted by her friend laughing at one of Sirius's jokes. "Kyra, listen to me. He cheats, he lies, and he thinks there's nothing wrong with that," Lily said. "This guy is _not _the guy for you."

Kyra sighed and turned to Sirius. "How 'bout you leave us alone?"

"But-" Sirius started.

"Please?" Kyra begged.

Sirius looked up at Lily who was just giving him a cold look. Sirius sighed, picked up his coat, and left.

Kyra shut the door and looked over at Lily. "What. the. hell. was. that?" Kyra asked very slowly.

"Oh Ky," Lily said, burying her hands in her face. "Sirius and I used to be so close…we were _all _so close…we were the best of friends in our seventh year and now…" Lily took a deep breath. "Everything's screwed up."

"What happened with his best friend?" Kyra asked, walking into the kitchen with Lily.

Lily sat down on a stool. "James and I dated for a year. The day after graduation we came home on the train and right there in the train station he popped the question." Lily sighed. "But I had found out the previous night that I had an opportunity for an internship to Australia and afterwards, I would be working as a journalist there." Lily sighed. "And I had to choose between him and the job."

"And you choose the job," Kyra finished.

"Exactly," Lily said.

"Do you regret that decision?" Kyra asked, gnawing on an apple.

Lily hesitated and then sighed. "Every day."

* * *

Sirius shut the door quietly and walked sullenly to his room, but before he made it he rushed to the kitchen and took out all the Hogwarts pictures. He spread them out on the kitchen counter and just looked at all the faces smiling back at him. Sirius sighed but covered the pictures with his body when he heard the front door open. 

Remus walked in and shut the door. He started walking towards the kitchen, turned the corner, but stopped when he saw Sirius sitting there trying to look innocent…it wasn't working. "Why do you look so guilty?" Sirius didn't say anything. Remus asked slowly, "Did you do something stupid?" Sirius opened his mouth. "Wait, don't answer that. We all know the answer is always yes anyways."

Sirius laughed nervously and his arm moved, pushing one of the pictures onto the ground. Remus looked strangely at Sirius and picked it up. "Um…why are you looking at Hogwarts pictures? None of us have looked at these in years…well besides James when he threw them out."

Sirius looked up at Remus and sighed. "She's back."

Remus stared blankly at him. "Okay I'm going to need more syllables."

"Lily is here in England," Sirius clarified.

Remus froze, his eyes bugging out of their sockets. "Lily? Lily Evans Lily? The girl that rejected James Lily? The one who-"

"_Yes_ that Lily. What other Lily's do you know?" Sirius said rolling his eyes.

"My boss's daughter's name is Lily," Remus pointed out.

"Your hott boss?" Remus hit Sirius over the head and Sirius continued with what he was saying, "You and I _both _know we're not talking about your hott boss's daughter…" Sirius said. "…how is she by the way?"

"Sirius!" Remus exclaimed and then paused. "The boss or the daughter?"

Sirius laughed. "Kyra got a new roommate…that roommate happens to be Lily Evans," Sirius said.

"So you got to see her?" Remus asked. Sirius nodded. "How is she?"

"Gorgeous," Sirius answered in a heartbeat. "I'm thinking about asking Kyra if a threesome is okay with her."

For the second time that day, Remus hit Sirius over the head. "What did Lily say?"

"Do you mean before or after I accused her of being selfish and then was asked to leave?" Sirius asked.

"You got _mad _at her?" Remus asked. "Just yesterday you were saying how much you missed Lily!"

"I miss the _old _Lily. The one who was carefree and loved James. Not the one who ditched James at the train station," Sirius said.

"Sirius, that was four years ago," Remus pointed out. "You can't expect a person to stay the same forever."

Remus and Sirius heard the door open and Sirius's eyes grew big, knowing it had to be James. "Do _not _tell Prongs."

"Oh no, I was about to go out there and say 'hey James, remember that girl who you were head over heels in love with that left you alone at the train station because she thought work was more important? Well she's back and I'm sure you'd _love _to see her,'" Remus said, rolling his eyes.

Sirius stared at Remus. "I think you're mocking me."

"You're a clever perseon," Remus said, rolling his eyes. Sirius and Remus quickly gathered the pictures up and threw them in the garbage, right as James came around the corner.

"Yes Sirius, red and blue _do _make purple," Remus said quickly, not wanting James to walk into a quiet room.

James just looked at them strangely. "And red and yellow make orange."

"Oooh," Sirius said, mentally telling himself to hit Remus later.

"So, what's for dinner?" James asked, taking a soda out of the refrigerator.

The boys just stared blankly at each other. "Takeout?" Sirius spoke up.

"Unless you're seriously suggesting one of us cook," Remus responded.

The boys looked at each other. "Takeout it is," they said in unison.

"Should we call Jon, Matel, Hamilton, K-" Sirius started.

"Is it sad that we know the takeout guys by name?" Remus asked.

For the third time, the guys exchanged glances. "We _really _need women," James said after a few moments of silence.

Just then, Peter walked in. "Did you guys know that there's a girl waiting for you downstairs?"

The three boys looked questionably at each other. "For us? Are you sure?"

"Who cares," Peter said with a shrug. "She has waffles."

"KYRA!" Sirius shouted, practically running out the door.

"FOOD!" James shouted, but Remus held him back. James pouted. "Does anyone else find it weird that Sirius has a girlfriend while the three of us are single?"

"Oh c'mon, James that's not fair," Remus exclaimed but then he paused. "But yeah, that thought has crossed my mind."

"And it's weird right?" James confirmed.

"It's almost as weird as attaining positronic distillation of sub-atomic particles," Remus said.

James and Peter gave him blank stares and James spoke up, "…but it's weird?"

Remus looked over at his friends and rolled his eyes, and nodded. "It's weird."

* * *

Sirius walked slowly down the stairs, trying to figure out what to say so he wouldn't screw things up. But he had to admit, he was a little angry at Kyra for asking him to leave. He turned to corner and saw Kyra standing there nervously. 

Kyra turned around to see Sirius and smiled. "I brought waffles."

"So I hear," Sirius said. "And you think waffles will make me forget that you practically pushed me out the door?"

"Of course not," Kyra said, and then held up another bag. "That's why I brought cookies also."

Sirius gave a slight smile and took the food from Kyra. "I'm sorry for sticking you in the middle of Lily and me."

Kyra put up her hand to stop him from talking. "She told me everything. I would be a little mad if I were you too."

"Really?" Sirius asked, a smile forming on his face. "But I was two seconds away from beating her up."

Kyra snorted. "True."

"Well, I'm still really sorry," Sirius insisted.

"I know," Kyra said and then took a deep breath. "But Lily is-"

"Oh, no buts. Please no buts," Sirius pleaded. "Buts are bad. Well unless they are on a female body."

"But Lily-"

"Did you not _get_ my whole buts are bad speech?" Sirius asked.

"However-" Kyra started.

"That's no fair. That's just a fancy but," Sirius pouted.

"Sirius," Kyra said calmly and sweetly. Sirius sighed. "Lily is one of my best friends and-"

"I thought you guys were just roommates," Sirius pointed out.

"We met in Australia," Kyra explained. "I moved back here two years ago but Lily and I have been writing back and forth and I asked her to stay with me when I heard she was moving back here to England." Sirius nodded. "Lily is my best friend and if you guys hate each other, it's not going to work between us."

"But-" Sirius started.

"I thought we were going to stop with the buts?" Kyra said with a lopsided grin. "Look, I can't date you because of all this history between you and Lily. It just seems awkward and I won't try and put myself between you and my best friend. It's not fair to make me choose."

"Looks like you already chose," Sirius mumbled bitterly.

"I'm taking myself out of the picture before it gets worse," Kyra clarified.

"You're just doing this because of what Lily said," Sirius exclaimed.

"What?" Kyra asked. "What are you talking about?"

"All those horrible things Lily said about me. She probably listed all the other things she hates about me and you believed her. I thought you had your _own _mind," Sirius cried out stubbornly.

Kyra's mouth dropped wide open. "How would you _know? _We've only known each other for about a _week_."

"I thought you were a little better than to listen to Lily badmouth me," Sirius exclaimed. "Guess I was wrong."

"I _didn't _listen to Lily!" Kyra burst out. "I already _told _you why I'm doing this. You don't have to believe me, but I'm telling the truth."

"I guess it's just hard to believe what you're saying," Sirius retorted. "Considering I know how persuasive Lily is."

"Ugh! Lily didn't say anything besides what she said in front of you! In fact all we talked about was your best friend!" Kyra cried out. "Look Sirius, I kind of wanted to end on a good note here. I don't want you to be mad at me."

"Well it's a little too late for that," Sirius snapped.

Kyra sighed. "Fine, act like a baby."

Sirius gave her an irritated look. He swallowed the lump forming in his throat. "So…I guess this is it?" he asked icily.

Kyra stared at Sirius coldly "I don't see how it can work any other way." Sirius didn't say anything because obviously whatever he was saying wasn't working. Kyra glared once more at Sirius, and then tramped out.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

_Awwww, poor Sirius. What will happen next? Will Sirius be able to keep Lily hidden from James? What'll happen to Kyra and Sirius...is it really over? Will Sirius ever date again or go back to one night stands? Why's this story have a weird title? Will I do well on my math test (oops...how'd that question get in there?)_

_Review and find out all the answers to these questions...but you have to review first! _


	4. Mint Chocolate Chip and Surprise?

_**Sweatpants, Ice Cream, and Runaways  
chapter 4**_

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Sirius sullenly walked back to the flat, took one look at his three best friends and went into his room with the two plates full of food, slamming the door shut.

In the living room, the other three exchanged glances. "Now, I'm no expert at reading nonverbal cues…but he didn't look happy," Peter spoke up.

James looked up at Remus and Peter. "Is he going to eat all of those waffles?"

Remus hit James over the head. "Could you _be _any more insensitive?"

"What?" James exclaimed and then shrugged. "I'm hungry."

"Go talk to you best friend," Remus urged, practically pushing James towards Sirius's room.

"Why? What's wrong?" James asked.

Remus and Peter just stared incredulously at James. "He's one plate of food away from bawling."

"Oh, Sirius isn't that bad off. He'll be fine," James said.

"Okay James, listen to me. I _know _what Lily did to you was awful, but that doesn't mean you have to be inconsiderate towards other people's feelings. If anything, you should _feel_ his pain. Obviously his little rendezvous with Kyra didn't go so well…you know what it feels like to get hurt and now you should go talk to Sirius," Remus advised.

James looked at Remus and Peter and sighed. He slowly walked towards Sirius's room and knocked on the door. Of course there was no answer to James slowly creaked the door open. When he peaked in he saw Sirius lying on his bed, stuffing himself with waffles and cookies. And what ever wasn't making it in his mouth, was going into the picture of Kyra he was making out of the food.

"Oh jeez," James whispered to himself and then spoke up, "Hey Padfoot."

Sirius looked up. "Oh, hey Prongs."

"How are you?"

"Peachy keen," Sirius said, rolling his eyes.

"Okay, I can take a sarcastic hint," James said. "You know…there will be other girls."

"Sure there will," Sirius said sadly but still agreeing with James. "I mean, take you for example. After Lily left you, you've been with _hundreds _of girls." Sirius looked up at James and gave him an I don't-believe-what-you're-trying-to-tell-me look.

"Ooookay, good point," James said, sitting on Sirius's bed. "But you and Kyra weren't together that long."

"What does it matter the length of our relationship? This was the first girl in a long time that I was happy to be with. It not only felt great to be with her, I felt great about myself," Sirius said, throwing down the rest of the waffles. "And now she hates me because I just _had_ to yell at her."

James leaped off the bed, "Okay, what's your favorite ice cream?"

"Huh?"

James rolled his eyes. "Remember the few days after Lily left? I wouldn't leave my room and I just lay around in my sweatpant pajamas. You bought me eight cartons of my favorite ice cream and now I'm going to do the same for you."

"I only bought you eight because there was a 'buy four get four free' sale," Sirius pointed out.

"Well, then I guess this will show that I care about you more since I will be paying for all eight," James said.

Sirius smiled weakly at his best friend. "Mint chocolate chip."

James smiled and started to leave but turned around. "Hey buddy?"

Sirius looked up. "Yeah?"

"Don't get into your sweatpants…you'll never want to get out of them."

* * *

Kyra walked into her flat and slumped down in the dining room chair. She placed her arms on the table and buried her head in them.

"Kyra?" Lily whispered, coming out of the kitchen. "Oh boy. What's wrong?"

Kyra picked her head up and looked at Lily. "I broke up with Sirius."

Lily paused. "Were you guys ever actually going out?"

Kyra shrugged. "I don't know. But it doesn't matter anymore because now we are definitely _not _going out."

"Oh Ky," Lily said soothing, sitting down beside Kyra. "Was it what I said? Because I really didn't mean any of that. I mean, Sirius _used _to be that way but I'm sure he's changed an-"

"It's not that," Kyra said. "But in case you care, I don't think he has changed. I mean, it's obvious everyone else he's ever been with were just one night stands. But no, the reason I broke up with him is that there's too much history between you two. I mean you dated his best friend and, I don't know. It's just weird."

"It shouldn't be," Lily pointed out. "Sirius and I used to be really close. I don't know why he snapped at me."

"Lily," Kyra said, giving her a look. "You broke his best friends heart and he was left to pick up the pieces. Did you really think he wasn't going to be a little angry?"

Lily sighed. "I know, I know," she mumbled. "But I wish he wasn't angry. Seeing him really made me miss him."

"It just sucks," Kyra pouted.

"You really think you like him?" Lily asked. Kyra nodded weakly. Lily sighed and then she had an idea and got up. But there was a problem with her plan. "Hey Ky, do you know if Sirius lives with James?"

"What?"

"Are Sirius and James living together? Are they still friends?" Lily asked. "Wait, what am I saying. Of _course _they're still friends."

"I have no idea if they live together," Kyra said. "And why do you care?"

"No reason," Lily said with a shrug. "I'm just wondering."

* * *

It took a few days, but Lily tracked down Sirius's flat and was standing in front of the door, praying that James didn't live there. After a few minutes, she got up the courage to knock on the door. No one answered so she knocked again. But this time when she knocked, she accidentally pushed the door open. Slowly, she walked inside.

"Sirius? Hello! Is anybody home?" Lily called out. She sighed when no one responded and started to leave but she heard noises coming from one of the bedrooms. She walked slowly and sure enough, there was Sirius: pigging out on ice cream.

Sirius looked up and practically dropped the carton of ice cream. "Lily?"

"Okay, hi, this may look bad but-" Lily started.

"Ever hear of breaking and entering?" Sirius asked.

Lily looked at him. "Ever hear of calories?"

Sirius looked down at the cartons of ice cream around him and gave Lily a sheepish grin. "Why are you here? Because you can't possibly be here to criticize my eating habits."

Lily sighed. "I talked to Kyra and I heard what happened."

"So you came here to gloat?" Sirius snapped.

"Ex_cuse _me?" Lily asked.

"You're the reason she broke up with me. Because of all the horrible things you said that _aren't true_ an-"

"That is _not _why she broke up with you," Lily exclaimed.

"Fine, but you can't deny that you are part of the reason we broke up."

"Yeah, but _you _are the other part of the reason," Lily said. "She doesn't want to be stuck in the middle of us."

"Well now you get her all to yourself. Congratulations," Sirius retorted.

"That wasn't my plan!" Lily exclaimed.

"Oh really?" Sirius sneered. "Saying no no no, you can't date him he's a player, etc wasn't trying to break us up? What was it? _Small talk?_"

"I was _mad _at you so of _course _I said those things. I didn't think she'd actually _listen _to me," Lily said. "And anyway, she didn't break up with you because of that."

"I've changed you know," Sirius said stubbornly.

Lily gave him a look. "Name your last girlfriend."

"Kyra," Sirius said immediately. "Wow, that was easy."

Lily gave him another look.

Sirius sighed. "Fine! I haven't dated since third year. But _that's _why Kyra was special. Because oddly enough, I _wanted _to date."

"Are you honestly telling me that you were bored of the one night stands and having sex with bimbo's that mean nothing and that you aren't afraid to commit and settle down with Kyra?" Lily asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Yes," Sirius said without skipping a beat.

Lily was taken aback. "Oh, wow. You didn't even have to think about that."

"I've gotten smarter since you've last seen me," Sirius said.

Lily gave a nervous laugh and then looked down at her hands. "It's been awhile huh?"

"Four years, one week, and five days," Sirius said and then shrugged. "But who's counting?"

"I'm guessing it's not you," Lily said. "James?"

Sirius sighed. "Oh believe me, he can tell you down to the second how long it's been since he's seen you."

"Look, I came over because Kyra is miserable," Lily said and then looked down at Sirius in his sweatpants, the empty cartons of ice cream, and a lovely picture of Kyra made in waffles and cookies. "Looks like you're not doing much better."

"Hey," Sirius snapped. "I'm doing just fine. This just happens to be my Wednesday afternoon ritual."

Lily gave Sirius a look and sighed. "I know you're angry at me and hell, you have every right to be. But I can't stand seeing Kyra, or you, like this so I came over here to see if maybe we could work things out."

"Oh, just like you and James tried working things out?" Sirius sneered. "I guess you skipped the working things out part and went straight to just working."

"The relationship you and Kyra have, or _can _have, is totally different from the relationship James and I had," Lily said, trying to be calm.

"Actually, it's quite similar," Sirius said. "You ran out on James when things got rough, and now Kyra's doing the same thing."

Lily tightened her fists. "You're impossible to get along with."

"Well thank you. I try," Sirius said with a cruel smirk.

Lily threw her hands up in frustration. "You're so aggravating! Here I am trying to help _you _out so you have the chance to be with Kyra and you act like a five year old. You know what? I'm sorry I tried." Lily started leaving until she heard Sirius speak up.

"Why do you care?" Sirius asked sincerely.

Lily turned around. "What?"

"Why are you being so nice? I was two seconds away from throwing you out the window the other day and yet you come back and attempt to my nice to me. Why?"

"Because whether or not you want to remember this, you and I were friends once. And I can't stand being the one who's stopping you from actually being in a relationship," Lily said with a shrug.

Sirius looked at her apprehensively. "It's one of my favorite memories."

"Huh?"

"You said that I may not want to remember being with friends with you," Sirius started. "And I am saying that of course I remember it. It's probably my favorite memory. All of us at Hogwarts; carefree, having fun, not worried about the real world. Life doesn't get much better than that."

"Well Sirius," Lily said, sitting down on the bed beside Sirius. "You and I actually agree on something."

"You know Lily," Sirius said, turning to face her. "We've all missed you. I didn't mean to yell at you when I first saw you, it just came out. I don't know what came over me because I really have always wished you'd come back."

Lily smiled. "Did Sirius Black just say something _nice_?"

"Yeah," Sirius said with a shrug. "but don't spread it around. It could ruin my reputation."

"So how 'bout you go talk to Kyra?" Lily suggested.

"What? Nooo way. She dumped. The dumpee cannot approach the dumper. It doesn't work that way," Sirius said, "It would make me look desperate."

"I think five empty ice cream cartons pretty much screams 'desperate,'" Lily pointed out.

Sirius laughed and threw a pillow at her. "Yeah but-"

"I brought more carton of ice cream Padfoot!" a voice exclaimed, closing the front door.

Sirius and Lily both froze. "Damn, you _do _live together," Lily muttered to herself.

Sirius mumbled, "Uh oh. _This _can't be good. He doesn't even know you're back."

Lily's eyes grew wide. "You didn't _tell _him?" Lily hissed.

"Oh yeah, it's real easy to tell your best friend that in case he hadn't gotten the memo, his life can't possibly suck anymore because the girl who broke his heart four years ago _is back_."

"Yeah but-"

"Hey buddy how-" James started, but all words flew out the window. He dropped the ice cream to the floor and his mouth hung wide open. "_Lily?_"

"Um…surprise?" Lily exclaimed.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

_ooooh, cliffhanger (i'm sorry I'm so evil) How will James react? Review to find out! _

_And thanks to all of the people that have reviewed the other chapters, I really appreciate it!_


	5. She Wants Back In

_**Sweatpants, Ice Cream, and Runaways  
chapter 5**_

_I am usually better about posting chapters within a few days of each other, but I've been really busy. But you have to admit, it's still an early posting, considering it's only been 4 days. __Hope you like this chapter! And sorry for the cliffhanger before, I never knew I could be so evil._

_Anyway, you know what the disclaimer should be: the plot and dialogue is written by me, and Kyra belongs to me, but everyone/everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling (I hope you know that by know... hehe). _

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Lily couldn't believe that James was standing right in front of her. He was taller, more muscular, cuter, his hair had gotten longer, and…Lily sighed to herself. She couldn't believe how great it was to see him. And what scared her most was…she was _happy _to see him. And that's when Lily realized she never stopped loving James.

James turned to Sirius. "What the hell is _she _doing here?"

"Well, okay…funny story actually," Sirius said and then looked up at the annoyed look on James's face. "Well, maybe not that funny." Sirius looked up at James's face again. "Okay, maybe not funny at all." Sirius bit his lip. "Okay, screw being funny. It's just a long story." Sirius took a deep breath. "Kyra's roommate is Lily." Sirius turned to Lily. "Oh wow, look at that…it actually wasn't a long story at all."

James just stared at Sirius, not sure of what to say.

"She's back from Australia," Sirius said.

James still didn't talk.

"And she's here in England."

James just kept staring at Sirius with that blank look on his face.

"And she's sitting right here."

James rolled his eyes.

"And she's not deaf…feel free to talk at anytime," Sirius said.

"What the hell are you doing in my _flat!_" James yelled at Lily. extremely surprised that he was yelling. He always figured that if he ever saw Lily again, he'd be overjoyed.

"Like I said, she's not deaf. There's not need to yell," Sirius clarified.

"Look, I just came to talk to S-" Lily started, trying to be calm

"This is _my _flat. England is _my _country! London is _my _city!" James shouted. "You belong far _far _away. Aus_tralia_ far!"

"I never ex_pected _to come back," Lily exclaimed, standing up. "I didn't decide that one day I was going to come back, run into you, and make your life miserable."

"Oh no, of course not. You would never choose to make my life miserable," James said sarcastically. "I mean leaving me alone in the train station when you picked work over love was all fun and games!"

"We were eighteen!" Lily cried out. "We didn't even know the _meaning _of love!"

"_I DID!_" James burst out. James sighed and then gritted his teeth. "I want you to get out."

"Whoa James, _what_?" Sirius exclaimed, not believing the hostility in James's voice.

"I want you to get out of my flat," James said, shooting daggers right at Lily. And then sighed angrily. "And out of my life."

Lily gulped, nodded slowly, picked up her coat and left, not daring to look back.

James sighed and then looked up at his best friend. He then looked down at the dropped bag of ice cream cartons. "Mind if I have these?"

Sirius just shook his head quickly but was afraid to say anything.

James sighed and walked over to the bed and looked up at Sirius. "Got any extra sweatpants?"

* * *

Lily sighed and opened her front door. She trudged inside, went to the kitchen, and cut herself a big piece of cake. She sat on the counter and stuffed herself with chocolate cake.

"Hey Lily?" Kyra exclaimed, coming into the kitchen in her nightgown. "Have you seen the other carton of ice cre-" Kyra stopped when she saw Lily eating chocolate cake…with her hands. "Um…is something wrong Lily?"

Lily just shook her head because her mouth was full of cake. Kyra came over and took the cake out of her hands.

"Okay, what's wrong?" Kyra asked, sitting herself next to Lily.

Lily sighed and looked at Kyra. "I went to see Sirius today."

Kyra tensed up. "Oh." She wasn't expecting that answer. "And…how is he?"

"He's great…if great means lying in bed in sweatpants eating eight cartons of ice cream," Lily said. Kyra couldn't help but smile a little; she was glad that she wasn't the only one having a tough time these past few days.

"Did he yell at you some more?" Kyra asked.

"Oh…_there _was yelling," Lily explained and looked back at Kyra. "But it wasn't from Sirius."

"Huh?"

"James came home early."

Kyra grew quiet and was pretty sure she forgot to breath. "Oh…that can't be good."

"Oh Kyra," Lily cried out, placing her head on Kyra's shoulder. "He doesn't just _hate _me. He detests me. He loathes me. He des_pises _me.He's plotted out thirty different ways to remove my head from my body. None of which are quick and painless."

"Well of course, he wants you to suffer as much as he has," Kyra said.

Lily looked up at Kyra with tears in her eyes. "He told me not only to get out of his flat…but to get out of his life."

"I don't think he meant that," Kyra said. "Obviously when you took the job and _did _get out of his life…he was miserable."

"Yeah…and having me back in his life today was no picnic," Lily clarified.

"Lily…why do you care so much?" Kyra asked. "You left him. You _chose_ to get out of his life."

Lily looked up, tears falling from her eyes. "I know…but now I want back in."

* * *

"Hey Sirius?" Remus called out. "Are you-" but he stopped when he entered Sirius's room and saw James laying there in sweatpants. "You too? Who has recently broken up with you? I can't deal with both of you in the sweatpants phase. One of you has to move up to the get-out-of-bed phase."

Sirius looked up. "Guess who stopped by today?"

"Huh?"

Sirius pointed his finger at James. "Guess who stopped by today?"

Remus froze. "Uh oh…Lily?"

Sirius nodded and James practically flew up out of bed, turning to Remus. "Wait…_you _knew Lily was in town?"

"I told him," Sirius said.

"I've only known for four days," Remus said.

"Which is also how long I've known," Sirius attested.

"Hold on…I thought you found out who Kyra's roommate was when Lily walked in to_day_," James exclaimed to Sirius.

"Oh…um, no," Sirius said quietly.

"You _knew _Lily was in London…and you didn't _tell _me?" James cried out, hopping out of bed.

"I didn't think it would matter! London's a big city! I figured there was no way you'd see her!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Obviously you were _wrong!_" James burst out.

"I didn't _tell _her to come over. Hell, when Kyra and I broke up, I figured it was the last time I'd ever _see _her," Sirius declared.

"Oh but wait…there you were, talking to her, sitting with her, _laughing _with her!" James exclaimed.

"We weren't laughing!"

"I'm sure at some point you laughed together!"

Sirius opened his mouth to retort but shut it. He paused. "I wouldn't call it laughing per say. More like giggling. Wait, no. Not even giggling. It was more like a snicker. Not even that, it wa-"

"Do I look like a guy who _cares _what kind of laughing you guys did?" James shouted.

"Um…" Sirius said slowly and looked down at his ice cream. "Mint chocolate ice cream?" Sirius offered.

James threw his hands up in aggravation and stomped out. Sirius sighed as he heard the front door slam shut.

"He's mad," Remus said, stating the obvious.

"Yeah I know," Sirius said with a sigh. "He hates mint chocolate ice cream."

Remus rolled his eyes. "So James saw Lily today?"

Sirius sighed and nodded. "And he dove right into a loud rant about how she left him and how he hated her. And then he told her to get out of his life."

"Jeez," Remus muttered. "Isn't it ironic that in the same week that James starts to get rid of all the things that remind him if Lily…she comes back into his life."

"Yeah and given his lifelong quest for irony you can see how _happy _he is," Sirius exclaimed sarcastically giving Remus an irritated look.

Remus rolled his eyes and sat down on Sirius's bed next to him. "What are we going to do?"

"About him being mad at me? Or about him seeing Lily? Or about him sulking?" Sirius asked. "James is a man of many problems."

"I don't even know where to start," Remus said with a sigh.

* * *

"I'm about to go to the police," Sirius exclaimed to Remus later that night. "I can't find him anywhere."

"Maybe he's at a friend's house," Remus said.

"What friend? His only friends live here!" Sirius exclaimed.

"What about Peter?"

"Ooooh, Peter. You're smart," Sirius said, pointing at Remus.

"Yeah, he's probably there. I'll floo over to Peter's. Okay? There's no need to panic," Remus said. Sirius stood there as Remus left through the fireplace. Sirius stood there for a minute or so, attempting to not be scared. Remus came back into the room, biting his lip. "Um…time to panic."

"He wasn't there!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Calm down!" Remus cried out. "It's not that late."

"It's 4 in the morning!" Sirius cried out.

"See? That's not late…" Remus said. "that's early."

"Remus, my best friend is out there completely heart broken by a girl and totally angry at me. Who _knows _what he'd do and you're making _jokes?_" Sirius burst out.

"When you say it like that, it makes me look bad," Remus teased.

Sirius groaned and started pacing. "Okay, well we kno-"

He was interrupted when the door opened. James stumbled in and Sirius and Remus looked at him in awe. Sirius finally had the courage to open his mouth, "Are you drunk?"

James gave him a goofy look. "I'm not sober."

"You've been gone for almost eleven hours," Remus said. "Where the hell have you been?"

"Around," James managed to say.

"Around?" Sirius cried out. "Now _there's _someplace we forgot to look," Sirius said sarcastically.

"No really, where have you been all this time?" Remus asked.

"I already answered you," Jame said, obviously annoyed. "Around."

Sirius sighed angrily. "So, I've been worried sick because you've been _around?_"

"You didn't seem worried about me when you invited Lily into our home!" James shouted.

"She broke in! I didn't tell her to come!" Sirius exclaimed.

"You _also _didn't tell me she was in town!" James burst out.

"GUYS!" Remus exclaimed. He practically shoved Sirius into his room, away from James. "You were worried when he was gone and now you're very close to making him leave again."

"He's just so aggravating," Sirius said.

"He's thinking the same thing about you," Remus hissed. "Put yourself in his shoes. The girl who broke his heart is back and his best friend knew about it but didn't tell him. Of _course _he's angry."

"I don't _get _it," Sirius said, "He was so insensitive to the idea of me and Kyra and now all of a sudden he has a heart?"

"He was insensitive because he was upset that you got to be in a relationship and yet he wasn't with Lily," Remus said. "But now that Lily's back in the picture, he's got a heart."

Sirius sighed. He looked at Remus and then turned around to go talk to James. They entered the living room where James was sitting. He had the pictures that he supposedly threw out sprawled out on the floor and he was looking at them.

"James?" Sirius whispered, biting his lip.

He looked up at his friends with tears in his eyes. "How could she leave me?" And with that said, James started crying.

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_Does that seem unrealistic of James? A guy bawling because of a girl? I wasn't really sure, but the point is to show that James loved Lily very much, and still does, and he can't believe that Lily would ever hurt him so much, etc. _

_Anyway, don't forget to review and I'll get the next chapter up as soon as possible! _


	6. White Coffee Cups and Says Who?

_**Sweatpants, Ice Cream, and Runaways  
Chapter 6**_

_Well, my math test was easier than I thought, but hopefully I'm not jinxing it. Anyway, you don't care about how I'm doing in school, you care about this story (at least I hope you do if you're taking the time out of your day to read it). _

_Disclaimer: If you really have no idea what belongs to be and what belongs to JK Rowling, then you can read the other chapters' disclaimers. _

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It was a week later, and Sirius and Remus were able to tell anyone that mattered that James was sick. (in Sirius's words, "Yeah, he's _real _sick. He's got a case of the Lilyitis.") Sirius has even learned to forget about his Kyra problem so he could take care of his best friend.

"I now remember why I told myself never to fall in love," Sirius said to Remus over coffee. Remus and Sirius were at a café a few blocks away from their flat, enjoying the warm weather outside.

"Yeah, but haven't you ever heard the phrase, 'don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened'?" Remus asked.

"Whoever said that has clearly never met James," Sirius said. Sirius sighed. "There are only three times it's okay for a guy to tell a girl he loves her. When he's drunk, when he's dying, and when he did something wrong and it's the only way out of it…which usually means he's drunk."

Remus rolled his eyes. "So Sirius, how are _you_ doing?" Remus asked.

Sirius shrugged, knowing full well what he was talking about. "It's not like Kyra and I were really going out. And we only knew each other for a week. So it's nothing to really fret about."

Remus gave him a skeptical look. "I think eight empty ice cream cartons contradict that statement."

Sirius just snickered and took a sip of his coffee. "Yeah but…" Sirius trailed off and stared out in front of him.

"Um…Sirius? Hello?" Remus asked but then noticed a familiar figure across the street. "Oh hey, James has finally gotten out of the house. And he's wearing _jeans_. Yay! He's moved up a phase. James! Hey Ja-" but Sirius covered his mouth.

"Shut _up_," Sirius hissed.

Remus gave him a weird look. "What'd I do?"

"Lily and Kyra are down the street," Sirius whispered.

Remus behind him and sure enough, there was Lily and Kyra. Remus looked back across the street and looked at James. "This can't be good."

"Maybe they won't see us," Sirius said. "Oh who am I kidding? Who could fail to notice my beautiful face and gorgeous hair?" Remus gave him a look. "Right, right. Not helping. We have to somehow hide." Sirius put his coffee cup in front of his face.

Remus stared at him in disbelief. "Are you hiding behind your _coffee _cup?"

"You got a better idea Sherlock Holmes?" Sirius asked.

Remus thought about it for a second and then brought his coffee cup in front of his face. Sirius nodded and whispered, "That's what I thought."

"Shit," Sirius mumbled under his breath as he watched Lily talk Kyra into coming over and saying hi.

"Remus?" Lily asked with a smile. Kyra and Sirius refused to look at each other.

"Hey Lily," Remus said, getting up and giving her a hug.

"What were you guys doing hiding behind your cups?" Kyra asked.

"Hiding? Who's hiding? We're not hiding," Sirius said. "We were just examining the nice design on the cups."

Lily stared. "They're white."

"Well _yeah_, to the untrained eye," Sirius teased, rolling his eyes.

"So, how have you been?" Kyra asked.

"Oh great, just fine, absolutely wonderful," Sirius said really fast.

"Oh yeah, me too," Kyra responded quickly. Remus and Lily just rolled their eyes, knowing very well that both of them were lying.

Sirius turned around and looked across the street to see James starting to cross. "Oh boy," he muttered to himself.

"So it's been awhile huh Lily?" Remus said.

Lily just smiled weakly. "You could say that."

"Okay, as nice as small talk is, you guys have to lea-" Sirius started, but stopped when he felt James' hand on his shoulder. Sirius cringed.

"Sirius? Remus?" James asked through gritted teeth. He bent down and hissed in their ears, "What is _she _doing here?"

"Hey buddy," Sirius said, biting his lip. "I don't think you've met Kyra. Kyra, James. James, Kyra."

Kyra froze, glancing over at Lily. "You're James?"

"That appears to be what Sirius is calling me," James said, shaking hands with Kyra, not daring to look at Lily.

Everyone grew quiet and there was a very awkward silence. "Well…this is nice," Lily finally said.

"Oh yeah _real _nice. It's just one big happy family," James snapped.

"I was just trying to say something. It was too quiet!" Lily exclaimed, angry at James always snapping at her.

"I _like _it quiet! It'd be a lot quieter if you _left_," James urged.

"James, I don't have-" Lily started, trying to be calm.

"I thought I told you to get out of my life!" James cried out.

"I didn't realize this sidewalk was your _life_," Lily yelled back.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but all of London is my life. _Your _life is supposed to be in Australia!" James exclaimed.

"And correct me if _I'm_ wrong but I don't remember you _owning _London!" Lily shouted.

"GUYS!" Sirius exclaimed.

"_What?_" they shouted, looking at Sirius, both obvious angry.

"Uh…you're repelling customers," Sirius said.

"Oh yeah that's a _major _concern on my list," James mumbled.

"What is the top of that list? Make my life a living hell?" Lily asked.

James's jaw dropped wide open. "You have _got _to be kidding me. You think I'm trying to make _your _life a living hell? I'm sorry but _who _rejected me, _who _decided work was more important, _who _left me standing alone at the train station?"

Lily opened her mouth to retort but James stomped off. "He's not allowed to do that!" Lily exclaimed.

"Do what?" Remus asked.

"He can't yell at me and then stomp off. He doesn't even give me a chance to re_ply_," Lily said.

"Because he doesn't want to be yelled at," Sirius said, rolling his eyes. Lily groaned and ran after James. "Oh great, now she's going over there herself. No good can come out of this."

Everyone bit their lip waiting to hear the yelling, but that's not what they heard. "You're absolutely right," Lily said to James a few feet away.

"Okay, if they don't yell I can't _hear _them," Sirius pouted to the others.

"Uh…what?" James asked Lily.

"I was a bitch. I just left you there with no explanation except that I was going to Australia to pursue my career," Lily said. "If I were you I'd be mad too. Not just mad, _furious_. And then here I am, showing up in your life four years later…_yelling _at you. You have every right to shout at me."

"Okay," was all James could think of to say.

Lily stared at him blankly. "That's it? No mean comeback? No screaming fit?"

"Give me a few minutes," James said, a smile creeping up on his face. "I'm still taken back by your response." Lily laughed, and so did James.

Everyone else just stared at them in disbelief at the two of them _laughing_. Remus then jumped in dismay. "Sirius! You're pouring coffee on your pants!" Sirius quickly looked down and sure enough, he was so stunned by Lily and James laughing that he didn't even realize he was pouring hot coffee down his front. James and Lily turned to see what the commotion was and laughed.

"It's okay," James called out. "You can have my pants."

"Then what are _you _going to wear?" Sirius asked.

"I have my sweatpants underneath," James said with a shrug.

Sirius looked at him in shock. "You can't do that! Once you put on pants, the sweatpants have _got _to come off. You can't be in the sweatpants phase at the same time as the get-out-of-the-house phase."

"Says who?" James asked.

"It's a rule!"

"Says who?" James repeated.

"It's in all the books!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Says who?"

"Look it up!"

"Sa-"

"I swear to god, if you say 'says who' I will _not _be afraid to kill you with my bare hands," Sirius exclaimed with a grin.

James paused. "Says who?" Sirius lunged at James who was exclaiming, "That's no way to get me to give you my pants!"

"I don't want your pants! Then you'll be back to the sweatpants phase!" Sirius shouted.

Lily turned to Kyra. "Do you have any idea what they are talking about?"

"Not a clue."

* * *

Sirius, Remus, and James entered the flat a few hours later. James put his keys down on the table and started to walk away but he felt two pairs of eyes staring at his back. He slowly turned around to see Sirius and Remus gawking at him. "Yes?"

"You were nice," Sirius said.

"Um…thank you?"

"Why were you nice?" Sirius asked.

"Because I hear being bitter and annoying is so old fashioned," James said, not wanting to talk about him and Lily.

"You actually laughed at something she said," Remus explained.

"You didn't completely bitch her out," Sirius continued.

"You _smiled _at her," Remus said.

"You didn't tell her t-"

"I know what I did," James interrupted.

"Do you? Because I don't think you do," Sirius said.

"I _was _there," James pointed out.

Sirius paused. "Oh yeah…that's right."

"Mind telling us why this sudden change of attitude?" Remus asked.

James sighed. "Obviously I did something to make her want to leave the first time. I can't handle being the reason she'd leave a second time."

"Wow…that was a smart answer. When did you come up with that?" Remus asked with a smirk.

"I _have _been lounging around for an entire week," James said with a shrug.

"Does that mean we can put something else in our freezer besides ice cream?" Remus asked. "Because I'm getting pretty sick just _looking _at ice cream."

* * *

Sirius was drinking coffee in the staff lounge of his community college talking to a fellow professor. "I hate summer session. I don't think it's fair that we have to work during the summer. No other prof-" Sirius stopped and gasped. "Kyra?" Sirius exclaimed, surprised to see her standing in front of him.

"I-I don't know why I'm here," Kyra said.

Sirius suppressed a smile. "Well…you know more than I know."

"Yeah, but that's not saying much," Kyra joked.

"I'm guessing you didn't come here just to insult me," Sirius teased.

"No…but it's an added bonus." Kyra sighed.

Sirius was tired of the small talk. "Okay Kyra, why are you here?" Sirius asked.

"I already said I didn't know," Kyra said. Sirius just gave her a look. Kyra took a deep breath. "What are you doing today?"

Sirius practically fell over in surprise. "Excuse me?"

"Do you want to hang out tonight?" Kyra said.

Sirius was silent for a few seconds. "Are you seriously standing here asking me to hang out after I completely yelled at you after you stomped on my heart?"

"Yes."

"Oh…" Sirius said slowly. "Let me grab my coat."

Kyra smiled as she watched Sirius go into the back and walk past the professor he was talking to earlier.

"Girlfriend?" the professor asked Sirius.

Sirius stole a glance at Kyra, "I hope so."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

_One more down...plenty more to come! What'll happen now that Lily and James can act civil around each other? What'll happen between Sirius and Kyra? Will Remus ever find a werewolf girlfriend (haha just kidding). Review to find out!_


	7. Rain and Chocolate Cake

_**Sweatpants, Ice Cream, and Runaways**  
**chapter 7**  
_

_Here's one more chapter, plenty more to come. __Because it's been quite a few days, I made this chapter a tiny bit longer. Don't forget to review after you read it!_

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"So…I completely stomped on your heart huh?" Kyra asked after a few moments of silence, referring to Sirius's earlier statement. They were just walked downtown, but neither one of them had said anything for a little bit.

"I wouldn't quite say _stomped_. Maybe walked is a better word. Nah, maybe tiptoed. Not even tiptoed, ma-" Sirius started.

"Sirius," Kyra said. "You're rambling."

"Yeah…I tend to do that," Sirius said.

"Oh I highly doubt that Mr. Bigshot, suave womanizer has a tough time with words," Kyra said.

"You know? I don't like that you're always accusing me of being a player. You don't know what has happened in my past life. You don't know my dating record an-"

"Oh _please_. Anyone with half a brain can figure you out!"

"Well half a brain describes you perfectly," Sirius mumbled angrily.

"I didn't come here so we could insult each other!" Kyra yelled.

"Well it's too late for that!" Sirius shouted.

"Maybe coming here was a mistake," Kyra suggested.

"Well may_be_," Sirius exclaimed. Kyra sighed harshly and just stared at Sirius who stared intensely back at her. Sirius took a deep breath. "However…I don't want you to leave."

Kyra bit her lip and suppressed a smile. "Me neither."

"Look, we are too civilized people," Sirius started. Kyra gave him a look. "Okay I'm civil." Kyra gave him a look. "Okay, okay. _You're _civil and I'm…_non_civil."

"I don't think that's a word," Kyra said.

"Pretend," Sirius teased and then sighed. "My point is we should be able to get along."

"We _have_ to get along," Kyra added.

"Oh really? Why's that?" Sirius asked.

"Because it's more fun to kiss someone who isn't mad at you," Kyra said. "And kissing to stop them from yelling doesn't count."

"Yeah," Sirius said. "James hates it when I do that."

Kyra rolled her eyes. "So…can we get along and make this work?"

"If I'm not mistaken, you're the one who broke up with me," Sirius said. "In other words, it's up to you whether or not we can get along."

"And if _I'm _not mistaken, you're the one who yelled at me while I tried breaking up with you," Kyra said, looking up as she saw a few drops of rain start to fall.

"Well _yeah_, because I didn't want to _lose _you," Sirius argued.

"We knew each other for _one _week," Kyra said. "It wasn't even a real relationship."

Sirius didn't say anything for a second. "Well if that's the way you feel, then what's the point in trying this time?"

"Because I _want _a relationship. I _want _to get to know you. I _want _to be with you," Kyra said and then sighed. "I want you."

"Even though I'm a player who treats girls like crap?" Sirius mocked, ignoring the giant raindrops falling on them.

"As long as you're _my _player," Kyra said, a smile starting to form.

"I can deal with that." Sirius smiled and took off his coat. He held it over the both of them as the rain started falling. Kyra snuggled close to him, not caring that she was soaking wet. Sirius looked down at Kyra and kissed her lightly on the lips. Kyra turned her body so she was facing Sirius and kissed him more intensely. Neither one of them seemed to notice when Sirius dropped the coat to the ground, leaving nothing between them and the rain.

* * *

Lily laughed as she saw Sirius and Kyra trudge into the flat, both dripping wet. "Is it raining?" 

Sirius stared at her like she was an idiot. "Nope, we just thought what a nice day for a swim…with our clothes on."

Lily looked at Kyra and snorted. "You do realize you're wearing a white shirt right?"

Kyra looked down and gasped. "I completely forgot!" She turned to Sirius and slapped him. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"And ruin my fun?" Sirius asked.

Kyra glared playfully at Sirius. "Okay, well _I _am going to go get out of these clothes-"

"Fun's over," Lily said to Sirius and Sirius laughed.

"-and I'll be right back," Kyra said, glaring at Lily.

Sirius laughed at Lily's comment and sat down in the living room beside Lily. "Do you think Kyra would mind if I went up there and helped her get changed?"

Lily laughed and threw a pillow at Sirius. "I have a feeling that the clothes would come off, but a new set of clothes would never make it on."

"I don't see anything wrong with that," Sirius teased.

"So Sirius…" Lily started. "What do you plan on doing with Kyra?"

"Huh?"

"Well, you usually get bored of a girl after a week and move on to the next girl," Lily said. "So I'm asking how long you will stay with Kyra until you're bored."

"First of all, there is nothing about Kyra that could bore me," Sirius said. "And second of all…there's no one left in London for me to date."

"Do you even know what you're doing?" Lily asked.

"No," Sirius said simply. "Lily, I have no idea what I'm doing. In fact, I'm completely confused and scared."

"Scared?"

"This is new to me," Sirius said with a shrug. "It's not just about swapping spit. It's about swapping…" Sirius trailed off, trying to figure out what to say.

"Hearts," Lily finished. "And I guess I can see what you're saying. It's hard to keep a relationship going, especially when it's new. It takes commitment, risks, compromise." Lily smiled. "It takes work."

Sirius leaned back. "Things were so much easier when I was a player."

Lily laughed and rolled her eyes. "So…you really like her huh?"

"Lily," Sirius said calmly. "I just spent the afternoon in the rain. I could possibly have pneumonia and get really sick, and I don't care. I have been to dinner with Kyra, I have _talked _to Kyra for hours and hours, in fact Kyra and I have not had sex…why? Because taking things slow is fine with me. Simply put, I enjoy Kyra's company."

Lily gave Sirius a wary look. "Do you practice these speeches when you wake up in the morning?"

"No…I have someone write them for me," Sirius teased. Sirius shivered. "So…do you have any warm clothes for me? Or am I going to have to freeze to death?"

"You just said that getting pneumonia is fine with you," Lily teased. "Plus, I'm sure Kyra will bring some clothes down for you."

"Hey Si, I brought some warm clothes for you," Kyra said, entering the room.

Sirius looked over at Lily with surprised eyes. "How'd you know that?"

"Oh, you know…she does it for all her other ex-boyfriends," Lily teased.

Kyra rolled her eyes. "Yup, Bob and Stan got the frilly pink shirts, so you're going to have to deal with the purple tank top," Kyra joked, knowing full well she didn't have ex-boyfriends named Bob and Stan.

"Oooh, my favorite!" Sirius taunted. Kyra laughed and gave him big sweatpants and a sweatshirt. Sirius left to get changed.

Kyra sat down beside Lily watching Sirius leave. Lily smiled at her friend. "So you really like him huh?"

Kyra laughed. "You've already asked me that before."

"I know…" Lily said slowly. "But I still can't get over the answer. I mean this is the guy who played pranks throughout Hogwarts, was proud when he got a detention, hexed me whenever he could. I never thought he could grow up and I certainly can't see someone falling in love with him."

"Falling in love?" Kyra asked with a snort. "I don't love him. Not even close. I just _like _him."

Lily gave her a look.

Kyra bit her lip. "He's a great guy."

"I know."

"He makes me laugh."

"I know."

"He's sweet and treats me wonderfully."

"I know," Lily said and then paused. "But do you know?"

"What do you mean?" Kyra asked.

"It sounds like your saying this stuff, but you're not sure if it's true," Lily said with a shrug.

"It's not as if I've known him for a long time," Kyra said. "I mean _you _knew him for seven years. I don't know why I don't just listen to you."

"Kyra, it's been four years since I've known Sirius," Lily pointed out. "The guy has changed."

"Has he? Because if my mind serves me correctly, he hasn't had a girlfriend since Hogwarts."

"He has changed," Lily confirmed. "I mean, the guy _fought _you when you broke up with him. Any other girl and he just would have shrugged it off. And Kyra, he sat around in sweatpants eating ice cream for days after you dumped him. Face it, the guy has changed…he's changed for _you_."

"The least I could do is give him a-" Kyra started but Sirius walked in. Kyra looked at him and burst out laughing. "A little short huh?"

"I'm sorry, did you give me the clothing off of a _doll?_" Sirius joked.

Kyra turned to Lily. "Do you have any clothing that would fit him better?"

Lily laughed and nodded. "I think _anything _will fit him better."

* * *

Sirius walked in later that night to see James reading a book on the couch. "Hey Prongs." 

James looked up. "Hey…where have you been?"

Sirius gave a goofy smile. "Guess who showed up unexpectedly at work?"

"Satan?" James suggested. "Mickey Mouse? Bugs Bunny!"

"Okay, you need some better guesses," Sirius said.

"Toni, Tammi, and Terri?" James suggested.

"I didn't say guess who I _wished _showed up," Sirius teased, rolling his eyes. "No…Kyra showed up."

"Kyra?" James said, putting down his book.

Sirius broke out in a grin. "Yup, and we just hung out at her place…after getting soaking wet in the rain."

James laughed. "Interesting…so you guys are good now?"

Sirius nodded. "Yes, and I am so very happy."

"I can see that. If you were a dog, you'd be wagging your tail," James said. "Oh wait, you _are _a dog." Sirius laughed and started walking toward his room but stopped when James spoke up. "Hey, are those my clothes?"

Sirius looked down at the sweats Lily gave him. "No, it can't be. I got them from…" Sirius trailed off and just realized where Lily got the clothes.

"Are you sure they aren't mine? I feel like I have the same pair. Or _had _the same pair. I haven't seen them for ages," James said.

"Like four years?" Sirius muttered under his breath.

"What?" James asked.

"I said, yes these belong to you. Sorry I took them," Sirius said, suppressing a smile.

* * *

Sirius showed up at the flat, knocked on the door, and leaned on the doorframe. Lily answered. "Kyra's not here." 

"So, you still have James's clothes huh?" Sirius said, ignoring Lily's comment.

Lily bit her lip. "Uh…would you like cake?"

Sirius smiled and walked into the flat. "You guys love chocolate cake huh? And yes, cake sounds great. You guys make it so moist and it's…oh wow, how'd you do that?"

"Do what?" Lily asked innocently.

"You knew exactly what to say to change the subject."

"Sirius…it's _you_. Mention food or girls and your mind tends to wander," Lily teased.

"That's not true!" Sirius exclaimed. "So…girls huh?"

Lily laughed and led him to the kitchen. Sirius sighed. "Those clothes you gave me…they belonged to James," Sirius stated.

Lily sighed. "I wasn't sure who they belonged to, but I had them. When you put them on and took them home, it clicked. I knew exactly who they belonged to…but it was too late to forewarn you. Is James upset?"

"He doesn't know," Sirius said. "He thinks I stole them from him."

"I'm surprised he recognized them," Lily said. "I've had them for over four years. I'm also surprised that they fit you still."

"They don't really…but it was better than what Kyra gave me. And _I'm _surprised they ever fit _you_," Sirius pointed out. Lily laughed and bent down to cut a piece of chocolate cake. Sirius gave an evil grin and hit her face into the cake. She gasped and came out of the cake, her face covered with chocolate.

"Oh you are _sooo _dead Sirius Black," Lily said, grabbing the whipped cream and spraying it at him.

"I don't think so!" Sirius exclaimed, taking a spoonful of ice cream and chucking it at her.

Lily laughed and picked up the rest of the cake with her bare hands and flung it at Sirius, hitting him square in the eye. "Bulls-eye!"

"In this case…_Sirius-eye_," Sirius cracked, flinging more ice cream at her. Just then, Lily and Sirius heard the front door open. They both froze, Sirius holding a spoonful of ice cream, and Lily holding a piece of cake with both her hands. Kyra walked in, stopped and stared at the two of them.

"Uh…cake?" Lily asked Kyra.

"It looks like a cake factory threw up in here," Kyra said, after a moment of silence. Sirius and Lily gave Kyra innocent looks. Sirius started to walk towards Kyra intending smother her face with chocolate.

"Stay," Kyra insisted, knowing exactly what Sirius was trying to do.

"You can't just give me a dog command," Sirius said, inching forward. "I'm a _person_."

"Stay," Kyra repeated sternly.

Sirius went back and stood next to Lily. "Okay…but you owe me a treat."

"So…what happened here?" Kyra asked. Sirius glanced over at Lily, gave an evil grin, and flung his ice cream right at Kyra. Kyra shrieked.

"_That's_ how it happened," Sirius said. "I guess I have really bad aim."

Kyra glared jokingly at Sirius who stared walking towards her. "You want a hug?"

"Get away from me Sirius!" Kyra shrieked, dropping her briefcase and running to the other side of the kitchen.

"I just want a hug!" Sirius cried out.

"And I just want you to stay as far away as possible from me!" Kyra exclaimed.

Sirius stopped running. "That's strange…I've never heard a girl say that to me before." Sirius started running, but slipped on the ice cream, whipped cream, and cake that was on the floor and ended up sliding right into Kyra, both of them crashing down to the floor.

Kyra looked over at Sirius. "Honey…I'm home." Sirius laughed and gave Kyra a kiss on the lips. Kyra licked her lips. "Chocolaty." Sirius laughed and got up from the ground. He helped Kyra up from the ground, and noticed that Lily had retreated to another room.

"I didn't know you were coming over today," Kyra said.

"Me neither," Sirius said. "But here I am."

"I'm glad," Kyra said with a smile.

"I should go home, get new clothes and shower though," Sirius said. "But if you want, I'll come back after that."

Kyra grinned. "Sounds perfect."

Sirius grabbed his stuff and started to walk out, but turned around. "Hey Kyra…how 'bout I bring a friend?"

"A threesome?" Kyra joked. "I can deal with that."

Sirius laughed. "You know who I'm talking about."

Kyra smiled, knowing exactly who he was talking about. "I'll bring one, too."

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S_orry for those of you waiting on Lily/James interaction, but that'll be the main focus of the next chapter, I swear! _


	8. Monopoly, Cheese Cubes, and Picnics

_**Sweatpants, Ice Cream, and Runaways  
Chapter 8  
**_

_I have a huge Macroeconomics test Monday, and I reeeeally needed a break, so I decided to post this chapter. So you better like it because I gave up valuable studying time to post it... lol just kidding. I seriously needed a study break and was glad to post it. But review and tell me how you like it because getting some fanmail will stop me from killing myself over this test. hehe, anyway, ENJOY!_

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"After four years you want me to just hang out with Lily as if nothing's ever happened?" James exclaimed, after he finished laughing at the sight of Sirius covered in cake and whipped cream.

"Exactly," Sirius said.

"Oh…" James said. "Just making sure."

"Come on Prongs. Just some beers and an innocent board game or two," Sirius said with a shrug. "This is _Lily _we're talking about. The girl you've moped about for four years…and she's _here_. You have to take advantage of that."

"He's right you know," Remus said from the couch, putting down his newspaper.

"Okay, no one's talking to you," James said with a grin.

"I know…but I feel so left out," Remus said and then looked to Sirius. "Does Kyra have any other friends? Preferably ones that howl at the moon."

The boys laughed. "I'll keep you company," Peter said.

Remus stared at Peter, and then looked back at Sirius. "_Please _tell me Kyra has a friend."

The boys laughed again and James bit his lip. "I don't know…what if I yell at her by mistake? No offense, but every since she left me, she's been more of a _problem_ then someone I'd hang out with."

"Well that's why _I'll _be there," Sirius said, rolling his eyes. "I'll just do what I always do when there's a problem."

"Have sex with 'the problem?'" James asked.

Sirius paused. "Can I do that in this case?" James hit him over the head. Sirius rubbed his head. "I'm taking that as a no. Nah, I wouldn't have sex with Lily. If you start yelling at her, I'll just hit you with a pillow. And if that doesn't work…I'll hit you with a hammer."

James laughed and grabbed his coat. Sirius smiled. "So you're going?"

"Nooooo," James said sarcastically. "I'm just grabbing my coat so we can take the dog out."

Sirius stopped and thought about that. "We don't have a dog."

James stared right at Sirius. "I beg to differ."

* * *

"Game over…" Sirius said, after a rousing game of monopoly. "It's a tie!"

"A tie? We have all the money!" Lily exclaimed.

"Yeah, but we have the get-out-of-jail-free card. And you can't put a price on freedom," Sirius explained. Lily laughed and threw a pretzel at him and Sirius threw a piece of popcorn at her.

"Hey! No throwing food in the living room," Kyra shouted, coming in from the kitchen, "This is a white rug."

"Have I taught you _nothing_?" Sirius said. "No white _anything _around me."

Kyra rolled her eyes "Here, I brought cheese cubes from work," Kyra said, setting them on the table.

"That's nice of you…what's wrong with them?" Sirius asked.

"What? Nothing!" Kyra exclaimed and then sighed. "Okay, fine. They were in the trash."

"Cool," James said, reaching for one.

"Hand them over," Sirius said, taking one.

Kyra and Lily glanced at each other and rolled their eyes. Lily turned to Kyra "Do you remember when we were in Australia and we fed dirty crackers to those kangaroos?"

"They almost died, I was horrified. I _still _have trouble sleeping at night," Kyra said.

"Well of _course _you do…you sleep with Sirius," Lily said. Kyra threw a piece of cheese at Lily.

"Hey! No throwing food in…" Sirius stopped. "Wait, how come it's okay for _you _to throw food in here, but when _I _do it, it's not okay?"

"Because I like me better than I like you," Kyra teased.

"Oh…well, as long as we have that cleared up," Sirius joked with a shrug.

James glanced over at Lily who was looking at him. She quickly averted her eyes and James smiled to himself. Sirius rolled his eyes as he watched them do this.

"So Lily, how was Australia?" Sirius asked, trying to make conversation.

"Fine," Lily said with a shrug. "It was gorgeous and my coworkers were nice, but I like London better."

"It's because I'm here right?" Sirius teased.

"That was a reason I _wasn't _going to come back," Lily joked.

"You know, when I hang out with you guys all you do is insult me," Sirius said. "I'm beginning to think I need to meet new people."

"Good luck trying to find people who would be friends with you," Lily said. Sirius pouted as the other three laughed.

"Alright, I think it's time to bring out the cake," Kyra said.

"Uh Ky…" Lily said slowly. "You mean the cake that Sirius and I ended up wearing this afternoon?"

"You mean you didn't even _eat _my cake?" Kyra asked.

"Oh no, I did. I licked it off of me as I was walking home," Sirius joked.

"Well, who wants to help me bake a_nother _cake?" Kyra asked.

"Oooh, me, me, me. Pick me!" Sirius taunted.

Kyra stared at the other. "Does anyone _else _want to help me bake the cake?" she teased.

Sirius got up. "You know, you are so not funny…" he was saying as they walked out of the room.

James turned to Lily who looked at him. "So…you think that cake is going to be made?"

"Not a chance," James said.

"So James, how have you been?" Lily asked.

James shrugged. "Fine…and you?"

"Pretty good," Lily said with a shrug.

It was quiet for a few seconds before James spoke up. "So…why'd you do it?" James asked.

"Uh…do what?" Lily asked.

"Reject my proposal four years ago."

"James," Lily said sweetly. "I don't think we should go into that right now."

"If not now, when?" James wondered.

"I don't think it really matters," Lily said slowly.

"You just left Lily. With no explanation at all," James said. "I want to know why."

Lily sighed. "Because we were young. And I was scared. And the only thing I could think of to get away from feeling scared was to run. So I ran…far away."

"But you didn't even give me a chance to respond. You told me that you were leaving for Australia and then walked away. How was I supposed to comfort you and make everything better if you didn't give me a _chance_?"

"James, nothing you could have done would have made me feel better. We were teenagers with no money, no job, no nothing," Lily said.

"We had each other," James pointed out.

"Which wasn't going to be much if we were living in a box, singing for money," Lily said. "And I've heard your voice…we wouldn't have gotten any money."

"We would have been happy," James said stubbornly. "I don't care what you say. Living in a box, no job, no clothes, it wouldn't have mattered. Because we would have been _happy_."

"How do you know that?" Lily asked. "How do you know we wouldn't have turned on each other and been miserable?"

"Because I knew us…and there was no way we would have been miserable together," James said. "But I guess I was wrong huh?"

"Wrong about what?"

"Knowing you," James said. "Because I sure as hell didn't think you would turn me down."

Lily and James sat in silence for a few seconds before Lily took a deep breath and said, "I don't know why you're here."

"What?"

"Obviously I was a horrible person and you will never forgive and forget. And yet you're sitting here, playing board games in my house, as if everything's okay…" Lily said.

"Because," James started. "I was already the reason you left town once. I don't want that to happen again."

"James," Lily said calmly. "You weren't the reason I left."

"Oh really?" James asked. "Because I didn't hear you mention wanting to go to Australia before I proposed. I also vaguely remember you just saying that you were scared and ran…far away."

"You didn't hear about it because I didn't _tell_ you. Plus, I had just found out the night before about the job," Lily said. "I was scared to tell you. I was scared of how you'd react."

"So you left before you could see my reaction," James stated.

Lily looked down. "Exactly."

It was quiet for a little bit before James spoke up. "Lily?"

"Hmm?"

"If I promise to be really good…will you stay?" James asked.

Lily just smiled sweetly at how vulnerable James looked.

* * *

Sirius and James were walking back to their flat in silence before Sirius decided to talk. "So…what did you and Lily do when Kyra and I were baking that cake?"

"We talked," James said with a shrug. "Something I bet you and Kyra definitely were _not _doing."

Sirius laughed. "What did you talk about?"

James stopped and looked at Sirius. "Why she rejected my proposal."

"Oh of course, because talking about the weather would have been a risky topic," Sirius said sarcastically, giving James a look. "You were actually comfortable _talking _about that?"

"No…but I needed to know the answer."

"And did you get an answer?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah," James mumbled, kicking a stone on the ground.

"But not the answer you wanted to hear," Sirius said.

"It's not like any answer would have been soothing," James muttered.

"So why'd you ask?" Sirius asked.

"Because I can't get it out of my head," James murmured. "I needed closure."

"So you're over it?"

James paused. "I guess I have to be."

Sirius sighed. "Do you want to talk to me about it?"

"No," James mumbled.

"We could go get coffee," Sirius said with a shrug.

"Nah."

"How about dinner?" Sirius asked.

"No thanks," James muttered.

Sirius paused. "We could go get really drunk and forget about Lily altogether."

"Let's go," James said.

Sirius laughed. "I was kidding you know."

"I know…but I wasn't."

* * *

"James?" Lily asked, surprised to see him on her way out of her house.

James held up a picnic basket. "I had an extra sandwich and I thought maybe you'd want to join me on a picnic."

"Well lucky for you, I have extra time," Lily said with a smile. Lily closed the door behind him and they headed to the closest park. "I'm glad you came."

"I know it's been five days," James said.

"Yeah, I thought what I said really got to you or something," Lily said.

"It did."

"Oh," Lily said, looking down.

"But it's a good thing," James offered. "It just took me five days to realize it. We may have a history, but it's in the past, right? And I don't want to live my life holding a grudge and I'm sure you don't want me too either."

"No," Lily said with a smile. "I'd really like you to not hold a grudge. It will make this picnic very bitter and stressful."

James laughed. "Well then you'll be disappointed in the sandwich I got you. Roast beef with a side of bitterness."

"Well then I'll just have to drink the soda instead," Lily said.

"But it's grape soda with hint of a stressful flavor," James joked.

"Well, then I guess I'll have to starve," Lily said.

"It's probably better," James said. "I'm not sure how edible these sandwiches are. I tried making them by hand."

Lily laughed and sat down on a patch of grass besides James. "So James, what do you do for fun these days?"

"You mean besides hitting on women and making fun of Sirius?" James teased.

Lily laughed. "Yes, be_sides _that."

"Well I love going to the gym and working out. Running four miles a day at five in the morning is great also. Volunteering at the retirement home down the block is also something I enjoy doing," James said.

Lily looked at him apprehensively. "So basically that means you sit around and do nothing while talking to the guys?"

"Exactly."

Lily laughed. "Okay, so tell me what you _really _do for fun."

"I love my job, and my friends," James said with a shrug. "The guys and I usually go out to bars and just hang out and talk."

"I still can't believe you, Sirius, and Remus are still really close," Lily said.

"And Peter," James added. "We're still close to him."

"Wow…I hardly talk to the Hogwarts gang anymore," Lily said.

James looked down. "No kidding," he muttered.

"I mean Maddie got married recently and I think Georgia is somewhere on a secret mission in the states," Lily said. "But I have no idea what Harriet and Hayden are up to."

"I haven't talked to them since the last day of Hogwarts," James said.

"Really? Why not?"

James shrugged. "I kind of spent many months distancing myself from everyone. In fact, Remus, Sirius, and Peter were about to find another friends because they were getting fed up with me."

"You know, we've talked about what happened at that train station," Lily started. "But I don't think I ever apologized." James looked at her but didn't say anything. "I truly am sorry."

"I know," James said sincerely.

"There's something else I haven't told you," Lily said, not daring to look James in the eyes.

"Yeah?"

Lily took a deep breath. "I regret it."

"Regret what?"

"Everything. I regret choosing work over you, I regret turning you down, I regret leaving you standing there all alone, I regret not giving you an explanation, I regret not turning around as I walked away. I regret everything about that day," Lily said. "But what I regret most…is never writing you or calling you in the last four years."

"It's okay," James said. "I probably would have ripped the letter up and hung up the phone."

Lily smiled weakly. "Well not to sound too cheesy but thanks for not ripping and hanging me up."

James paused. "That did sound cheesy."

"It sounded better in my head," Lily said with a laugh.

"And Lily?"

"Yeah?"

"I regret you doing all those things also," James said, looking down. "I think we really could have had a nice life together."

"Yeah…" Lily said slowly and then whispered to herself, "I agree."

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_One more down, plenty more to come! I told you there's be more Lily/James interaction!  
_


	9. Pie, Cake Stealers, and Poker

_**Sweatpants, Ice Cream, and Runaways  
Chapter 9**_

_It's so gorgeous out today! Hot and sunny! I decided to skip studying and ended up playing softball and soccer instead. But, now I'm inside and I thought, why not post a new chapter? That way to can put off studying even longer! haha... don't forget to review! I love you guys so much that I posted a chapter instead of doing homework, you gotta love me._

_Read other disclaimers... _

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"Alright, look at that guy," James pointed out. "He's reading the newspaper on the bench now, but the moment we turn away, he's going to look straight at that girl sunbathing in her bikini."

Lily laughed and pointed to another guy. "You mean just like that guy is doing?"

James looked over and laughed. "Exactly."

Lily looked down at her watch and gasped. "We've been down here at the park for five hours straight."

"Are you sure?" James said. "It seems like we've only been here an hour or so." Lily showed him her watch and James nodded in agreement.

"I guess I should probably be getting home," Lily said with a shrug.

"Guess so," James mumbled, trying hard to hide the disappointment. They got up, gathered their things together, and started walking back to her house.

"You know, your best friend has really surprised me," Lily noted.

"How so?"

"With this whole Kyra thing," Lily said. "I mean, I haven't seen the guy for the last four years, but he seemed pretty determined never to change back in Hogwarts. I mean, he has to have slept with half of London by now."

"Correction: _all _of London," James teased. "And believe me, the person he surprised most was me."

"Actually, I think the person he surprised most was himself," Lily said.

"Yeah, probably," James said.

"So…how has your dating life been going?" Lily asked, not sure why she was asking that question; she was afraid of what she'd hear.

"Oh you know, a little here, a little there. Not much to tell," James said with a shrug. "What about you?"

"Same," Lily said with a shrug. "No one serious."

By this time, they had reached Lily's front door. She turned around and smiled at James. "I had fun today."

James nodded in agreement. "Me too."

Lily started going in, but turned around. "Do you want to come in?"

James paused. "Is there cake?"

Lily laughed and the two of them stepped into the house. "There's _always _cake." She went to the refrigerator, looked around, closed it and looked up at James innocently. "There's no cake."

"But you just said there's always cake," James disputed.

"Well...there's no cake now," Lily said.

James paused. "But I want cake," he teased.

"Okay, how 'bout we use a new word besides cake," Lily joked.

James thought about it for a second. "I want…pie?"

"We have pie."

"Why didn't you say that before?" James cried out.

"Because you were too busy worrying about the cake," Lily said.

"But there is no cake?"

"I thought we were using a different word," Lily said.

"Right, right. Pie," James said.

Lily laughed and served him a piece of pie. Just then, Kyra and Sirius walked in from the upstairs. "Oh…hey guys."

James looked down at the plates in their hands. "Cake stealers!"

Kyra and Sirius exchanged weird looks as Lily and James burst out laughing. "Should I even bother asking?" Kyra asked.

"Not a chance," Sirius responded.

"Have you guys been hanging out all day?" Kyra asked.

"Depends if spending five hours together constitutes as all day," Lily noted.

"Five hours!" Sirius exclaimed. "Jeez, I can hardly spend five _minutes _with Kyra."

"I am _soooo _not making waffles for you ever again," Kyra said.

Sirius turned to James and Lily. "I think I've upset her."

Lily and James rolled their eyes, but didn't say anything. They were too busy eating their pie.

"Well, we're going over to my place now," Sirius said.

"Why?" James asked.

"Kyra wants to see pictures from Hogwarts," Sirius said with a shrug.

"Why would she want to see a more arrogant, less smart, shorter version of you?" James asked.

"Hey, you've totally got me wrong!" Sirius exclaimed. "I was smarter then."

"So basically what I've found out about you is that you're dumb, arrogant, and a player," Kyra said. "I'm so lucky to have found you!"

"Okay, I think we need to leave before you tell her all the other horrible things about me," Sirius said.

"There's _more?_" Kyra whined. Sirius and Kyra left the room.

"I never would have thought that Kyra would end up dating Sirius," Lily said, watching them leave.

"And I never thought Sirius would end up dating…at all," James said.

* * *

"I still can't believe you're beating us at poker," Remus said to Lily a few days later 

Lily laughed. "It's not that hard when you guys suck."

"Hey!" Sirius exclaimed.

Kyra stuck a pretzel in his mouth to shut him up. He swallowed the pretzel. "Now that's no fair," Sirius said. "Giving me food to shut up works almost every time."

"Why do you think we _do _it?" James asked, putting another pretzel in Sirius's mouth.

"I know another way to shut you up," Kyra said with a grin, kissing Sirius on the lips.

"There's no way I'm doing that," James defended. Everyone laughed.

"Full house," Lily said, setting her cards down.

"Damnit," Peter muttered, setting his cards down.

"Alright, I'm done playing poker," James pouted. "I'm losing."

"You're not losing," Lily pointed out. "…you're losing by a lot."

James splashed his water bottle at Lily. Lily gasped. "I'm wearing a white shirt!"

"I know," James said with an evil grin. "Why do you think I did it?"

"Oh that's it," Lily said, splashing James with her cup of fruit punch.

"That's never going to get out of my clothes!" James cried out with a laugh.

"I know," Lily mocked. "Why do you think I did it?"

"Hey!" Sirius exclaimed to James. "That's _my _shirt!"

"Oops…" James said. "Can I borrow it?"

Sirius glared at James and threw the bowl of pretzels at him. "Hey! You're getting your shirt dirty!"

"Lily already ruined it!" Sirius defended. Lily laughed and gave an innocent grin.

Remus looked at his friends and smiled to himself. He shook up a beer and opened it away from himself, spraying it at everyone. "Hey!" they all called out.

"I thought Remus was the nice one," Kyra pouted to Sirius.

"So did I," Sirius teased, throwing a chip at Remus.

Peter looked around at everyone. "You know, we haven't done this for quite awhile."

"Yeah," Sirius said with a smile, putting his arm around Kyra. "Although I think the last time we played, it was strip poker."

"Do _not _remind me," Lily groaned, burying her face in her hands.

"Yeah! You weren't so great _then_," Remus asked.

"In fact…we still have the pictures from that day," James said evilly.

"You get out the pictures and you _die _James Potter," Lily said.

"Eh…I've lived a good life," James said, standing up from the table.

Lily got up and attacked him from the back. "Hey!" James cried out, falling onto the couch.

The other four watched them topple onto each other and fall to the floor. "I can totally see how they were together four years ago."

"Just add longer hair to Lily and messier hair to James, and you've got them at eighteen," Sirius said.

"I still feel like nothing has changed and we are hanging out at Hogwarts yelling at James and Lily to get a room," Remus noted as he watched James mess up Lily's hair on purpose, causing her to tickle James.

Sirius swallowed the lump in his throat. "And yet, everything _has _changed."

* * *

It was a week later, and the four boys were sitting around the kitchen talking and eating. 

"Were you with her again last night?" Remus asked.

James shrugged, swallowing his pizza. "Yep."

"And you're okay with this?" Peter wondered.

"Huh?"

"I just don't understand how you can hang out with her and not want to kill her for what she did to you," Peter said with a shrug.

"I'm with Peter on this one," Remus said, leaning against the refrigerator. "You've spent four years sulking about Lily, plotting ways to kill her, ripping up her pictures. And after all that, you can just hang out with her and not hold a grudge?"

"Guys, I've been through this," James said with a sigh. "I hated her when she left. But what I hated more was that she was gone, that I would never see her again. Now she's back, and you want me to ignore her? You want me to act like she's not here?"

Peter and Remus exchanged looks. "Yes."

James was taken aback by that response. "Well, it's not going to happen."

"I just know that something will happen and you'll be back here eating ice cream in your sweatpants," Remus said.

"That can't happen," Sirius piped up. "I don't have enough money to keep buying you ice cream."

James threw his crust at Sirius.

"Hey!" Sirius exclaimed. "The crust is the best part." And Sirius ate the crust right off of the ground.

"How does Kyra put up with you?" Peter teased.

"If you're as gorgeous as I am, people will do anything to put up with me," Sirius joked.

"I think you guys should get married," James suggested.

"_What?_" Sirius exclaimed, spitting his water out.

"Well that way you'll be out of our flat," James taunted with a shrug. "We will be Sirius-free."

"Nah, he'll still come back," Peter said. "He needs to be fed somehow."

Remus rolled his eyes and turned back to James. "I still don't understand how you can hang out with Lily and act as if everything's alright," Remus said.

James groaned. "I thought we got off the subject of me."

"Yeah! I like talking about _me _much better," Sirius joked.

"You guys, it's a lot easier than you think," James said with a shrug. "I just think about how miserable I was when Lily wasn't here, and it makes me glad that I have the chance to hang out with her."

"But you don't want to just hang out with her," Peter noted.

"Yeah, you want to be her boyfriend. You want to have a relationship. You want to get married," Remus said.

"You want to have little Lily babies," Sirius added.

"Could you _be _any cruder?" Remus asked.

"Yes," Sirius said. "You want to have lots of se-"

"Ooookay," James said, shutting him up. He turned to Remus and Peter. "And maybe I do want those things. So what? It's not like she has a boyfriend or anything."

"Yes, but remember the last time you had a relationship?" Remus asked. "It didn't end so well huh?"

"Okay, why are you ruining this for me?" James demanded to know. "For the first time in four years, I'm actually en_joying _myself. Why are you being so difficult?"

"Because you and I both know it's going to end badly," Remus said calmly.

"Really? Are you psychic? How do you know this?" James wondered.

"Well I don't know for sure but-"

"Exactly, you don't know for sure," James said. He stood up and left the table and slammed the door to his room.

It was quiet amongst the other three for a few seconds. Sirius finally spoke up. "I think he's mad."

Remus and Peter just gave him a look.

"Right, right. Not helping," Sirius muttered. Sirius went and looked in the freezer. "Damn, there's only mint chocolate chip in here." He sighed because he knew James hated mint chocolate chip ice cream. He shrugged and took the ice cream out himself. "Anyone want ice cream?"

Remus and Peter gave him another look.

"Still not helping?" Sirius asked.

"Precisely," Remus answered.

* * *

"You're kind of quiet today," Lily said. 

James looked up. "Huh? What?"

Lily smiled. "What's wrong?"

"My friends annoy me," James answered.

"Well, you want to hear a little secret?" Lily asked. James nodded. "You're friends have _always _annoyed me."

James looked at her apprehensively. "You're lying."

Lily laughed. "Okay, I am." James laughed. "But I made you laugh, and that's what matters."

"Ugh!" James cried out. "They just think they know everything."

"What are they annoying you about?" Lily asked.

James stopped walking. "Um…you actually."

"Me?" Lily asked. James nodded. "How come I have a feeling this wasn't a nice friendly conversation."

"Because you're smart," James mumbled.

"Well what did they say?"

James looked up at Lily and then started walking again. "Forget it. Just forget I said anything."

Lily grabbed his arm. "You can't just tell me your friends were annoying you about _me_ and then not tell me why."

James jerked his arm away. "Look, it doesn't matter okay?" he said grouchily.

Lily looked hurt. "Yeah, okay," she mumbled. Lily looked up to see her house in front of her.

"Guess we're here," James said.

"Yeah," Lily muttered. "Here we are."

James sighed. "I'm sorry about snapping at you," he said. "I'm in a bad mood and I'm taking it out on you."

Lily wasn't stupid. She knew what James and his friends were fighting over…and she wanted to clear things up. "James," Lily said nervously. James looked up. "Can I tell you something?"

"Yeah…" James said confusingly.

Lily took a deep breath. "I never stopped loving you."

James froze, almost tripping over his own feet. "Uh…what?"

"You heard me."

"But you left…I mean, you rejected me…you chose work over me…" James said confusingly.

"Not because I stopped loving you," Lily murmured.

"Okay, well that's the only reason _I _can think of," James said.

Lily looked up. "Because I was scared was why I ran. It had nothing to do with you."

"And yet strange enough, it seems like it had everything to do with me. _I _was the one you left. _I _was the one standing there alone. _I _was the one you rejected."

"And _I _was stupid to do so," Lily responded.

James was silent for a moment and then he looked up. "Do you really mean that?"

Lily nodded weakly and bit her lip. This lip was met by James lips and they stood there for a few minutes kissing. They had been waiting four years for this that they didn't let each other break apart. James and Lily climbed up her front steps still kissing. James leaned Lily against the door and kissed the hollow in her neck as Lily ran her fingers through James's hair. James fiddled with the handle while kissing Lily, but finally managed to open the door. They walked in still kissing but stopped when they heard a voice in the kitchen.

"Lily?" the voice said, coming into the hallway.

Lily pulled away from James, glad that no one saw her kissing him. "_Robbie?_"

Kyra came out of the kitchen just then. "Kyra?" Lily asked, surprised that Kyra let Robbie stay here.

"James," James said, introducing himself, feeling left out from the 'name game.'

"Who are you?" Robbie asked James.

"James," James said. "…I thought I just made that clear."

"Well I'm Robbie," he said, sticking his hand out. "Lily's fiancée."

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_I am sooooooooo evil. How do you guys put up with me? _

_The more reviews I get, the faster I post the next chapter. Right now, we're looking at another weekish, but if I get lots of reviews...I'll post faster, and that's a promise! _


	10. Have You Seen My Sweatpants?

_**Sweatpants, Ice Cream, and Runaways  
Chapter 10**_

_Told you guys I would post faster if I got more reviews! Thanks to all the people who reveiwed. Oh, and I'm sorry about the Rating mix-up, I'm not sure why that chapter switched Rating's on me...it shouldn't have. _

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James just stared at Robbie. "Um…what?"

"No he's not," Lily exclaimed to James and then she turned to Robbie. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I haven't seen you for two months," Robbie said. "I go away on business, I come home and hear that you left."

"I got transferred," Lily said and then turned to James. "Look, we s-"

"You could have _told _me that," Robbie interrupted.

"We weren't _dating_," Lily exclaimed and then sighed. "I said no to your proposal."

James's ears perked up. "Well, you're getting good at that," James mumbled under his breath.

"James, I-" Lily started.

"Just because you said no doesn't mean we can't still date," Robbie argued.

"It does to _me_," Lily retorted. "I was _never _your fiancée Robbie because I said _no._"

"Uh…maybe I should go," James offered.

Lily turned to James. "No." She then turned to Robbie. "_You _should go."

"Maybe _I _should go," Kyra offered.

"Why'd you let him in?" Lily asked through gritted teeth, getting tired of being confused on whom to talk to.

"I'm not going anywhere," Robbie insisted.

Lily took a deep breath. "Robbie, I don't care what you have to say to me. We're over. I left Australia."

"Well come back," Robbie urged.

"I like my life here," Lily said, trying hard not to yell at Robbie.

"You liked your life in Australia too," Robbie said.

"I really don-" James started, trying hard not to get angry.

"Robbie!" Lily cried out. "You can't just show up at my house and expect me to fall at your knees! This is over and I would _really _appreciate it if you please _left_."

Robbie looked hurt but just shrugged. He opened the door and left, just as Lily said.

Lily turned to Kyra. "How could you let him _stay _here while I was out?"

"You guys _did _date for six months," Kyra said. "I thought maybe you'd want to see him."

"You thought wrong," Lily said with a sigh. "When he proposed to me, I realized I wasn't in the relationship as much as he was. So I left and came here."

"I thought the reason you left was because you got transferred," Kyra said.

"Well…that too," Lily said.

Kyra sighed. "Look, I'm sorry. I wasn't sure what to do."

Lily sighed also. "It's fine. It's not your fault." Kyra looked up at Lily and James and left to go upstairs.

Lily sighed again and turned to James. "So I-"

"No one _serious _huh!" James shouted. He then stomped out the door, slamming it behind him.

"No James!" Lily exclaimed and opened the door to run after him but he was already halfway down the street. Lily sighed and shut the door.

Kyra came down the stairs. "You told him you didn't date anyone seriously?"

Lily sighed. "Well it's not like I thought Robbie was going to show up at my house anytime soon."

"Why'd you tell him that?"

"Because he was being nice to me. We were hanging out and having fun. I thought if I told him I dated Robbie, he's get mad or upset," Lily said with a shrug.

"So you lied to him instead?" Kyra asked. "Because that won't make him mad or upset or anything." She rolled her eyes.

"Okay you are sooo not helping," Lily muttered.

"It's not my job to help," Kyra teased. "My job is to gloat and make you feel bad about yourself."

"Well congratulations," Lily muttered. "It's working."

"Why don't you go talk to James?" Kyra asked.

"Oh yeah he seems in the talking kind of mood," Lily said sarcastically. "When he yelled at me and stomped out of here, he made it _so _clear that he wanted to stay and talk to me."

"Well of course he's mad _now_. Just give him time to cool down," Kyra suggested.

"It took him four years to cool down the last time," Lily mumbled. "I can't wait another four years."

* * *

"He's out with her now?" Remus asked Sirius.

Sirius shrugged. "He went over there after work."

Remus sighed. "And you're completely okay with this?"

"Remus, you _really _need to put yourself in his shoes," Sirius said. "The girl he hasn't been able to get over after four years is back in his life. He has absolutely no willpower, of _course_ he's going to hang out with her."

Remus sighed. "And he's _really _okay with the situation?"

"He's happy Rem," Sirius said. "For the first time in four years, he's _happy_."

Remus hesitated. "I guess you're right. As long as he's happy, there's no harm in him hanging out with Lily. Plus, I hate it when he's mad at me."

Just then James stomped in. Remus looked up from the couch. "Hey James. I totally understand why you hang out with Lily and I'm sorry for getting on your case about it."

"I _hate _her!" James exclaimed.

"…but to hell with her!" Remus finished. Sirius snorted as Remus continued talking. "What happened?"

"She's a lying, cheating, running-" James started.

"Okay, I think you're running out of ing adjectives," Sirius said. "How 'bout you just tell us what happened?"

"She has a fiancée," James said. "She told me she hasn't dated anyone seriously since we broke up but noooo she has a _fiancée!_"

"Are you sure?" Sirius asked.

"Hmm nope, maybe I heard wrong when Robbie said he was her fiancée," James said sarcastically.

"I just can't believe that she would lie about having a fiancée," Sirius said.

"Oh great, be on _her _side," James cried out.

"James, I'm not on _anyone's _side. I'm just trying to figure out the truth," Sirius said.

"Okay, so maybe she's a liar like you said. But what about the cheating, running part?" Remus asked.

"Let's just say that if she had a fiancée, she cheated on him," James said.

Sirius and Remus exchanged looks. "With…you?"

James sighed and plopped down on the couch. "Yup, but this Robbie guy interrupted us. And maybe he isn't her fiancée because she _said _she told him no and get this…she ran to London."

"See, she wasn't lying. She doesn't have a fiancée," Sirius noted.

"But the _point _is, she lied to me," James said. "And she _ran _when he proposed. I mean, is anyone _else _getting déjà vu? Is that all she does? Fall in love and then crush people's hearts when they propose?"

"_James_," Sirius exclaimed. "Have you asked her about it?"

"Why? So she can lie to me more?" James asked. "I don't _want _to talk to her. I don't _want _her to be here in London. I should have listened to you Remus. No good came out of my friendship with Lily. I want her to leave London and never come back."

"James, before you do anything this hasty, you should consider it from all angles," Remus suggested.

"I've spent four years considering Lily from all angles," James joked. "It's time to get over her for good."

"Yeah but-" Sirius started but there was a knock at the door. Sirius went to open it and there stood Kyra. "Kyra?"

Kyra kissed Sirius on the cheek. "Hey, I'm here to see James."

James looked up and groaned. "If you even mention the name Lily, I'm leaving."

"Ooookay," Kyra said. She paused trying to figure out what she wanted to say. "There's this person whose name starts with an L and ends with an ily-"

"I'm outta here," James said, starting to get up.

"No," Kyra said firmly, putting her hand up. "You're going to listen to me."

James turned to Sirius. "I now know who wears the pants in the relationship."

"It's scary actually," Sirius teased.

Kyra looked at Sirius and Remus as if to tell them to leave. Sirius got up. "Right, right, we're leaving." Sirius and Remus went into Sirius's room and closed the door.

"What?" James asked tiredly.

"She and Robbie are not engaged. They never were," Kyra said. "They went out for a little bit, but she wasn't ready for an engagement and broke it off."

"Kyra," James said.

"No! I'm not done," Kyra insisted. "She doesn't love Robbie. Moving away from Australia was the best thing she could do. She had to get away from Australia. She came here because she's always loved London. It reminds her of good things. It reminds her of _you_."

"I don't care Kyra. I've had enough of Lily. She's hurt me enough and I'm tired of it. There are plenty of other people in this world who aren't out to hurt me."

"James!"

"No! I don't want to hear it."

"She left him because she was still in love with _you!_" Kyra burst out and then instantly regretted it.

James looked at Kyra and showed no emotion. He sighed. "Does someone in love with me lie to me over and over again?"

"She didn't lie to you over and over again," Kyra said. "…she lied to you _once_."

James was obviously not amused. "Kyra if Sirius turned down your proposal, rushed to Australia, came back four years later to be your friend, but then lied to you about being in a relationship…would _you _talk to him?"

Kyra paused. "No…but you're a lot more open-minded." James gave her a look. "…or not."

"Look why don't you tell her to go back to Australia where she obviously belongs?" James suggested.

"You don't mean that," Kyra said.

James sighed. "I honestly do."

Kyra grabbed her things and started to leave. "Fine," she said stubbornly. "I'll leave you alone."

James just looked at her, showing no emotion.

Kyra sighed. "You won't at leas-"

"No."

"What about-"

"No."

"What if you-"

"Are you not hearing me…_no_."

"But-"

"You call this leaving me alone?" James asked.

Kyra grumbled. "Fine, I'll let you get back to talking to the guys. I'm sure you'll want to tell them about this conversation."

James got up. "There's no need to." He opened Sirius's door and there was Remus and Sirius leaning against the door looking sheepish. "They heard the whole thing."

Sirius turned to Remus nervously. "You're right, the wood of this door feels _great_ against my cheek." Remus just hit him over the head.

Kyra rolled her eyes and left. Remus and Sirius came out of the room. "You're not even going to let Lily explain things to you?"

"What's there to explain?" James asked, sitting back down. "She lied. End of story."

"I can't believe I'm hearing this," Remus said. "It took awhile, but you finally convinced me that hanging out with Lily was a good thing. And now you're saying that hanging out with Lily was wrong and you never want to see her again? Make up your mind!"

"My mind's made up," James said. "Now…have you seen my sweatpants?"

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_Thanks to everyone that reviewed! 24 reviews on one chapter...that's a record! Now, don't forget to review after this chapter pleeeease!_


	11. Bad Day at Work and Pippi Longstocking

_**Sweatpants, Ice Cream, and Runaways  
Chapter 11  
**  
In no way do most of these characters belong to me, they belong to the oh-so-wonderful JK Rowling. 6th Harry Potter book comes out in **89 **days!_

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"Oh, hey Sirius," Lily said, answering her door. "I haven't seen you in awhile."

"It's been about a week," Sirius said with a shrug. "Is Kyra here?"

"Yup, she's up in her bedroom," Lily said.

Sirius gave a grin. "Perfect."

"How about _I _go get her?" Lily suggested.

"Because that will totally ruin my fun," Sirius teased.

Lily shut the door as Sirius entered. Sirius started up the stairs but stopped when he heard Lily speak up. "Sirius? How-"

"He's going to be fine," Sirius answered, knowing exactly what she was going to say.

Lily nodded. She turned towards the kitchen, but stopped and turned back to Sirius. "Sirius? Do-"

"Give him time Lily," Sirius said, knowing once again what she was going to say. "He doesn't completely hate you."

Lily smiled and nodded. Sirius looked at her, waiting for other questions but she went into the kitchen.

Sirius knocked on Kyra's bedroom door and pushed it open. She looked up and smiled. "Hey Si."

"Hey there," Sirius said, walking over to her bed where paper was spread out all over them. "Whatcha doing?"

"Trying to put together an article," Kyra said. "A very boring article."

"Well…I can make the article more interesting," Sirius said mischievously.

"Thanks, but I don't need an article on your great looks."

"I wasn't going to write about that," Sirius pouted. "I was going to write about my great personality."

"The article needs to be _true,_" Kyra teased.

Sirius laughed and kissed her. She looped her arms around his neck and brought him closer to her. Sirius slowly lowered her so her back was against the bed and he was kissing her more passionately. Kyra inched her hands into Sirius's hair to ruffle it. Kyra gasped for air as Sirius broke apart from Kyra's lips. Sirius started kissing Kyra neck, tracing down to her stomach. He looked at Kyra sincerely, as if to say 'is it okay if I go further.'

Kyra smiled weakly. "The article is already more interesting," she whispered into Sirius's ear, slipping her shirt off.

* * *

James sighed as he threw his stuff into his briefcase after a long day at work. He grabbed his briefcase and looked up to leave, but froze when he saw Lily standing there. "What are you doing here?" 

"It's been two weeks since you've talked to me," Lily said. "I felt it was time for _me _to come talk to _you._"

"Did it ever cross your mind that the reason it's been so long since I've talked to you is because I don't _want _to talk to you?" James asked.

"Yes," Lily said. "But I'm stubborn. Look Ja-"

"No, _you_ look Lily," James insisted. "I don't want to talk to you. Period. End of story."

"You're not even going to let me explain?" Lily asked.

"I've heard the explanation," James said tiredly. "I've heard it from Robbie, I've heard it from Kyra, I've heard it from Sirius. Do you know that after hearing it three times it gets tiring? And did you know that after hearing it three times, it _doesn't _make me feel better? And did you also know that the third time is _not _a charm?"

"Okay but-"

"And hearing it a _fourth _times won't change anything," James exclaimed.

"I don't _want _you to hate me!" Lily cried out.

"Too late!" James shouted.

"I'll give anything to take that night back an-"

"What night?" James snapped. "The night you lied to me about Robbie? The night where kissing me was a lie? The night Robbie showed up? The night yo-"

"The night I said _no _to your proposal!" Lily cried out. "God James, you won't even let me _talk_."

"I know!" James exclaimed. "I thought I made it clear that I _didn't _want to talk to you!"

"Well that's not _fair_," Lily whined.

"_Fair? _You want to talk about _fair?_" James exclaimed, throwing down his briefcase. "Try having the girl you're in love with reject you! Try finally getting the chance to be with this girl and it's all a lie! Try being told that this girl has a _fiancée! _Do _not _talk to me about fair Lily Evans!"

"This hasn't been easy for me either James Potter!" Lily shouted.

"What part hasn't been easy?" James demanded to know. "The part where you completely disregarded my feelings, the part where you completely lied to me, or the part where you saw your fiancée with me standing there?"

"He's not my fiancée!" Lily shouted.

James sighed angrily. "You know, I really could have gotten past the fact that you rejected my proposal. And I could even understand that you lied to me about Robbie. In fact, I could even get past that you had a boyfriend for awhile after we broke up."

"Okay so-" Lily started.

"One thing really bothers me though," James sighed. "When you kissed me in front of your house, I really thought that we had a chance this time. But then I hear you ran from Robbie's proposal. So, not only did you run from me, you ran from him. I can't fall in love with you again Lily because you'll just run, and I can't deal with that." James picked his briefcase up and left.

* * *

Lily caught up with him outside. "You can't just _walk away _James." 

James looked at her. "No…that's _your_ job."

Lily tried to act as if she wasn't hurt by that comment. "I'm not letting you go this easily. I'm staying put this time. I don't care what you say, I _don't _run when things get hard and-"

"Oh really? Because running from two proposals sure as hell contradicts that last statement," James said, crossing his arms.

"You _listen _to me James Potter!" Lily exclaimed, wiping away a few stray tears. "I'm in love with you and I am going _nowhere _because I do _not _want to lose you."

"You can_not _do that," James exclaimed. "You expect me to fall at your feet because you say you _love_ me? It's happened before and look where that got me."

"James-"

"Lily," James said calmly and then sighed. "Do us both a favor and go back to Australia…it's where you belong now and frankly, I'm tired of seeing you around London." And with that, James turned the corner and Lily lost sight of him.

* * *

"Whoa? Bad day at work?" Remus asked as James dragged himself inside. 

James gave him a tired look. "I don't want to talk about it."

"I didn't realize work could get that bad," Remus said.

James glared at him.

"Right. No talking about it," Remus confirmed.

Sirius exited his room and saw the look on James's face. "Whoa, bad day at work?"

"Ugh!" James exclaimed.

Sirius looked over at Remus who answered, "We're not allowed to talk about it."

"Oh…right, duh, how could I _be _so stupid," Sirius said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

Remus laughed but stopped when James glared at him

It was quiet for a moment until Sirius spoke up, "So really, dude what happened at work?"

Remus burst out laughing as James looked like he was about to kill Sirius.

Sirius shrugged and grabbed his coat. "Hey, where ya going?" Remus asked him.

"Kyra's," Sirius said and then he glanced over at James. "So if anyone wants to come with me, I'd-"

"Do _not _finish that sentence," James urged. "I _don't_ wantto see her, I_ don't_ wantto talk about her, I don't even want to have her _mentioned _okay?"

Sirius turned to Remus. "I'm taking a guess here, but I don't think our friend James here wants anything to do with a certain redhead."

"Pippi Longstocking?" Remus teased.

"I also don't think it was work that was bad today, I'm thinking James got a visit from Pippi Longstocking."

Remus and Sirius looked up at James for answers. James just shrugged it off and walked to his room.

Sirius sighed. "Alright, I'm off to meet Kyra."

James came back into the room. "She told me she loved me and doesn't want to lose me."

Sirius shut the door. "Kyra can wait."

Remus spoke up next, "And what did you say to her?"

James opened his mouth to respond but immediately closed it. "It's not important."

Remus and Sirius stared at him like he was crazy. "She tells you she loves you and what you say afterwards isn't im_portant?_"

"Yes," James insisted.

"Oh…" Sirius said. "As long as that's cleared up."

James got up from the couch and went to the kitchen.

"Where are you going?" Remus called out.James opened the freezer and Remus groaned. "We _really _need to stop buying ice cream." James glared at Remus but didn't say anything and went into his room,

Sirius was about to open his mouth when there was a knock on their door. He walked over and opened it and Kyra was standing there. "Were we meeting here? I thought I was supposed to meet you at your place."

"You were...but I came to ask you if we can reschedule the date," Kyra said. She looked around to see if James was in sight. "Lily came back and she's kind of upset from something. I don't know what, but I'll figure it out."

Sirius and Remus exchanged looks and Sirius nodded. "We'll just hang out tomorrow."

Kyra kissed Sirius and started to leave. "Wait Kyra," Sirius said. Kyra turned around and Sirius walked to the freezer. "I think you should bring some ice cream to Lily."

Kyra looked at him and bit her lip. "That bad huh?"

"Let's just say you should take more than one carton," Sirius said. Kyra sighed and took the ice cream.

* * *

"Hey Kyra?" Lily called out from her room a week later. 

"Yeah?"

"Do you know how to place an ad in the Daily Prophet?" Lily asked.

"Yeah…" Kyra said.

"Good, because you're going to have to find a new roommate," Lily said.

Kyra paused. "Uh…what?"

Lily walked out of her room. "I'm going back to Australia."

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_And once again, I get the prize for being the most evil!_

_If you review, I PROMISE I'll get the chapter out sooner rather than later. But I need at least 15(ish) reviews, before that happens. It's really easy, just click that nice box and say review. It's five seconds out of your time._

_If you review, you'll find out within the next few chapters if Lily really leaves, and if James was being honest when he said she wanted her to leave, and what about Sirius and Remus? They've gotten used to having Lily around. Is Lily going to uphold her reputation of a "runaway," always running away when life gets tough...I guess you'll have to review to find out huh? Only a few more chapters left (either 2 or 3).  
_


	12. Life is More than Water Fights & Bimbos

_**Sweatpants, Ice Cream, and Runaways  
Chapter 12**_

_Thanks to the 26 people who reviewed! You guys are all amazing, and like I promised, here's the next chapter. I would have posted it sooner but I had two tests today and I spent all Tuesday and Wednesday studying. Lucky me huh? But they're over, but now I have a test tomorrow to study for. Only 13 more days of school and then I'm out for the summer, yay!  
_

_Disclaimer: Hopefully you've gotten the hang of what should go here._

_If you forgot, this is where we left off:_

Lily walked out of her room. "I'm going back to Australia." _  
_

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Kyra stood up. "_What?_"

"I'm going back Ky," Lily repeated.

"You can't! Why?" Kyra exclaimed.

"Let's face it, I don't belong here," Lily said.

"Says who? You belong here because I say so. I _need_ you," Kyra said. "Lily, you just _got _here and now you're gonna turn around and leave?"

"I talked to my boss and he never wanted me to come to London even though the company wanted me to. He's offering me more money and better benefits if I come back to Australia," Lily said.

"Lily, you can't go," Kyra whined. "You're my best friend and I was so ecstatic when you told me you were moving here. If you leave, I'll have nothing."

"You'll still have Sirius," Lily pointed out.

Kyra paused. "I'll have nothing!" she cried out.

Lily laughed and sat down beside Kyra. "It's too hard to stay here."

Kyra sighed. "James?"

Lily nodded weakly. "He obviously doesn't want me here and there are too many memories here. I thought it would be good for me to come back, but now I just realize I was crazy to think that."

"Lily, why won't you tell me what he said to you?" Kyra asked.

"It doesn't matter," Lily insisted. "I'm doing this for me."

"Really? Because it sounds as if all the reasons you mentioned have something to do with James," Kyra said harshly. "You're just going to run from this? Lily, that's gotten you in trouble in the past! And what are you doing? You're running away from the guy you are _clearly _in love with to the guy you _lied _to James about!"

"Kyra," Lily said calmly, not wanting to get into an argument.

"Robbie's the one who got you into this big mess in the first place!" Kyra cried out.

"I'm not going back to Robbie! I'm just going-"

"You don't think he'll figure out that you're back and try to contact you?" Kyra asked harsly, her hands on her hips.

"Kyra," Lily said through gritted teeth, trying to stay calm. "I'm leaving after work on Tuesday." And with that, Lily got up and went into her room, shutting the door behind her. 

Kyra sighed and trudged down the stairs. She stopped at the bottom of the stairs when she saw the framed picture of Lily and herself hanging up. In the picture, Kyra was laughing at Sirius who was taking the picture as Lily was pulling Kyra's hat over her eyes.

Kyra's eyes started to sting from the tears that were forming.

"Kyra? Surpr-" Sirius started to say, entering the house but immediately stopped when he saw Kyra standing on the bottom stair crying. "Kyra?" He rushed over and put his arms around her.

"I don't want her to go," Kyra sobbed, falling into Sirius's arms.

* * *

"What do you mean Lily's leaving?" Remus asked the next morning. 

Sirius just stared at him. "I thought it was self explanatory. Lily…is…leaving."

"But…why? When? Where?" Remus shook his head on confusion. "What?"

"I'm not sure," Sirius said slowly. "Kyra was quite hysterical. I didn't understand her at times."

"Was it awkward?" Remus asked. "Her sitting there crying?"

"What? No, of course not. She's my girlfriend, she can cry," Sirius said with a shrug. Remus gave him a look. "Okay, _yes, _it was very awkward. Why do women get so emotional?"

"Especially over guys," Remus noted. "You don't see _us _fretting over girls."

Just then James came out of his room. "Is there any more ice cream? And have either one of you see my red sweatpants?" James said. Remus and Sirius exchanged glances and burst out laughing.

"I take back my previous comment," Remus said.

James looked confused, but took a carton of ice cream out of the freezer and went back to his room.

Remus sighed. "Are you going to tell Prongs?"

Sirius shook his head. "I don't really know if Lily's leaving for good, or just for a little bit, or what. I didn't really understand. But Kyra would never let Lily just leave without putting up a fight."

"If she leaves she'll just be proving James right," Remus said.

"About what?"

"About how she runs when something gets hard," Remus said. "I never thought of her that way, but it seems to be all she's good at."

"She's _not _leaving," Sirius insisted. "Things were starting to feel right again. She can't leave, because I can_not _deal with a miserable James for another four years."

"None of us can," Remus said. "That's why _you _have to make sure she doesn't leave."

"Me? Why me?" Sirius asked.

"Because she likes you," Remus said.

Sirius paused. "Are we talking about Lily or Kyra?"

Remus rolled his eyes. "Lily. You were always her favorite."

"Really? Because I thought James was her favorite," Sirius said.

"Well…not right now," Remus said.

"Okay but Rem, we don't even know if Lily is leaving for sure," Sirius said.

"She's Lily, of _course_ she's leaving. What has she done in the past?" Remus asked.

"Ugh," Sirius said. "I guess I should go talk to Lily huh?"

"Unless you were thinking of sending her telepathic messages," Remus joked.

Sirius paused. "Can I _do _that?"

"You can hardly dress yourself in the morning," Remus said.

Sirius opened his mouth to retort but then closed it. "Boy it's a good thing I have Kyra."

Remus laughed.

* * *

"Sirius?" Lily asked, obviously surprised. It was the next morning and Lily was sitting at her desk. 

Sirius just waved.

"What are you doing here?" Lily asked.

"What? A guy can't come over and just pop in to see his good buddy Lily?" Sirius asked.

Lily looked at him apprehensively. "No really, what are you doing here?"

Sirius sighed. "I'm here to take you out."

"Does Kyra know you're here hitting on me?" Lily teased.

"I'm not hitting on you," Sirius exclaimed but then paused. "But now that you bring it up you look _really _pretty today."

"Sirius!" Lily exclaimed with a laugh.

"Come on, just come out with me. We'll go grab dinner, a movie, maybe a walk in the park. It'll be fun, like old times."

Lily hesitated. "I have a lot of work to get done."

"So you're not going to come out with me?" Sirius pouted.

"Oh, no. I'm definitely coming out. I just wanted you to know I had a lot of work," Lily said, packing up her stuff. Sirius laughed at Lily.

* * *

"Okay if you buy me any more food, I'm going to get fat," Lily said with a laugh. 

"Oh come on. Salad, spaghetti, wine, bread, cake, and ice cream is _not _a lot of food," Sirius protested.

"Well maybe not for _you_, but you're a bottomless pit."

"Come on, split a pretzel with me," Sirius urged. Lily laughed and nodded in agreement.

After they got the pretzel, they sat down on a bench to talk.

"So Lily, how are you liking it here in London?" Sirius asked.

"It's very different from Australia," Lily said with a shrug, "But I've always loved London."

"I know," Sirius said. "I never want to leave here."

Lily just looked down at the sidewalk and didn't comment.

"Let's play Frisbee!" Sirius exclaimed.

"How does Kyra put up with you?" Lily groaned, getting to her feet.

"I pay her to pretend she can put up with me," Sirius teased, using his wand to conjure up a Frisbee and threw it over to Lily.

"So Sirius…why are doing all this?" Lily asked. "You all of a sudden visit me at work and want to hang out with me all night? What's the catch?"

Sirius thought about telling her he knew she was leaving, but he didn't want to ruin the night. "I miss the good 'ol days. You and I always used to take our walks around the lake and we would just talk."

"I always looked forward to those walks," Lily said with a smile. "Although I think the conversation always went the same. You would ask me if you could push me in. I would tell you to get away from me. You would splash me, I would shriek and splash you back and we would always walk back to the dorms soaking wet."

"To which the other guys would ask us what happened and we would smile to ourselves and not say anything," Sirius finished. "James was always so jealous."

"He always thought there was something going on with you and I," Lily said.

"But I would always convince him that I only liked sluts and bimbos," Sirius said.

"And although James was skeptical at first, he would always be convinced when you brought a girl up to your room that same night," Lily concluded. Sirius laughed as he threw the Frisbee to Lily.

"I miss those days," Sirius said "Why do we have to grow up?"

"Because believe it or not, life is more than water fights and bimbos," Lily said with a shrug.

Sirius gasped. "Life is _never _more than bimbos!" Sirius teased.

Lily laughed. "Well for some reason, someone out there believes that we are all supposed to become grownups."

"Get a job, get married, have kids," Sirius said and then he paused to think about what he just said. "…or at least get a job."

"I miss being eighteen," Lily said with a sigh. "And _some _of us haven't grown up."

"James?" Sirius asked, wondering if that's who she was talking about.

"Exactly," Lily mumbled.

"You only get to be a grown up once," Sirius said. "And he hasn't gotten the hang of it yet."

"Neither have I," Lily mumbled, sitting down on the grass. Sirius walked over and joined him.

"I think the better your childhood and teen years, the harder it is to grow up," Sirius offered.

"Well then it's going to be impossible for me to grow up," Lily muttered.

"Alright this day was supposed to be a happy day. No talking about James or being a kid or Hogwarts," Sirius said, taking Lily's hand and pulling her up from the ground. "There is _one _good thing about growing up."

"Oh? And what's that?"

"It's legal to drink," Sirius said with a laugh.

Lily laughed. "Hey look, ducks."

"Ducks?" Sirius asked.

Lily grinned. "In the pond."

"What are they doing out at night?" Sirius asked, walking over to the pond. "Hey Lily?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I push you in?"

* * *

"Well Sirius, I must say that was the best day I've had in a long time," Lily said, hugging Sirius as they reached her front door. 

"I'm glad to be of some help," Sirius said.

Lily looked up at Sirius and bit her lip. "Sirius?"

"Yeah?"

Lily opened her mouth to say something but immediately closed it. "Nothing, forget it."

"Okay," Sirius said. He started walking away but stopped and turned around as Lily was almost in the house. "You can't leave."

Lily turned around. "What?"

"If you leave we won't have any more nights like this one," Sirius said with a frown.

"Did you do all this for me because you were trying to get me to _stay_?" Lily asked.

Sirius looked down at the ground. "Not completely. But I guess you could say that was part of it."

"So this was almost like a bribe. The more you buy me the more you hoped I'd stay?"

"It's not like that Lily," Sirius said. "You just can't go. You'll be proving James right."

"What are you talking about Sirius?"

"James thinks that all you do is run away when things get hard. If you leave, you'll be proving him right."

"Well then let him be right," Lily said stubbornly. "Look Sirius, he doesn't want me here and I'm going to respect that okay?"

"No," Sirius said sternly.

"Excuse me?"

"I am _not _going to respect that. I don't know what he said to you but I sure as hell know that you love him and he loves you. You ran out on love last time and I will _not _stand here and let you do that again."

"There's nothing you can do about it," Lily said. "And James has made it very clear that he doesn't want me here."

"Screw James!" Sirius exclaimed. "Well don't _screw _screw James. You know what I mean. Don't screw him literally. Actually, maybe you should. I mean it's probably-"

"Sirius," Lily said tiredly. "Get on with it."

"You don't like talking about screwing James?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Yup. I love talking about screwing James. In fact, I want to do him right here, right now."

Sirius paused. "Okay, _I _don't like talking about screwing James."

Lily smiled. "I figured. Now can we talk about something _other _than James?"

Sirius sighed. "Lily, I don't care what you say about James not wanting you here. _I _want you here. Kyra wants you here. Remus wants you here. Pe-"

"Australia is where I belong now," Lily said. "I had no right to come back."

"Lily, _what _did James say to you?" Sirius demanded to know.

Lily paused and bit her lip. "It's not important. Sirius, I love you and everyone else, but I need to go back to Australia."

"You're just running away again!" Sirius exclaimed. "Why can't you just face your problems! Don't you get tired of always running away?"

"Thanks for the night Sirius," Lily said and then opened her front door and shut it in Sirius's face.

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_Do what you all do best and review! Like always, I'll post the next chapter faster if you take ten seconds out of your time and review. _


	13. A Complete Idiot and a He Who

_**Sweatpants, Ice Cream, and Runaways  
Chapter 13**_

_This is the second to last chapter. Thanks to the 30(ish) people who reviewed the last chapter_

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One day had passed and Remus and Sirius were out of ideas on how to get Lily to stay.

"I'm going over to Kyra's now," Sirius said. "She's been pretty upset over this whole Lily leaving thing."

"I bet," Remus said, looking up from the newspaper. "Will Lily be there?"

Sirius shrugged. "Probably."

"Do you think if I paid Lily a hundred galleons she would stay?" Remus asked.

"Wow…we really _are _out of ideas on how to get Lily to stay huh?" Sirius asked. "Oh, and if I leave will you pay _me_ a hundred galleons to stay?"

"No," Remus said. "I'd pay you a hundred galleons to never come back."

"Whatever makes me richer," Sirius joked.

Remus laughed. "Go find Kyra."

"Okay, see ya," Sirius said.

"Hey Sirius?" Remus called out.

"Yeah?" Sirius asked.

"See if she'll make me waffles," Remus teased. Sirius laughed as he closed the door.

* * *

"When I got home from work and you weren't in the kitchen, I feared the worst," Sirius said, looking up from his cake.

"What, that you'd have to make your own dinner?" Kyra teased and then looked down at Sirius eating her cake. "Looks like you've been doing fine without me."

"I don't need _you _per se," Sirius said. "I need your cooking."

Kyra rolled her eyes and kissed Sirius. "Why thank you, I feel so appreciated."

"So, where were you?"

"I was saying good-bye to Lily because she's going straight to the airport from her office."

"Oooh, okay," Sirius said with a shrug. "So are you---wait _what?_" Airport? Good-bye?" Sirius shook his head from confusion. "_What?_"

"Lily's going back to Australia," Kyra said. "You knew that."

"I know, but I didn't think it was going to be _this _soon," Sirius said.

"Well, she actually thinks James is right…whatever he said to her. She feels as if she had no right to come back and she feels that the sooner she leaves, the better," Kyra said.

"You idiot!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Well _there's _a way to get me in bed," Kyra said, rolling her eyes.

"No no, I mean, how could you let her _go_?" Sirius exclaimed.

"Oh yes by saying 'you idiot,' that's ex_actly_ what you meant," Kyra said sarcastically.

"She chose work over James once and look where that's gotten her. Look where it's gotten the _both _of them. When is she leaving?"

"Sirius, I don't thi-"

"When is she leaving?" Sirius said, raising his voice.

"The taxi will arrive in half an hour."

Sirius practically raced out there.

"So…the date's over?" Kyra called after him. "Wait Sirius! Her office is the other way!"

* * *

"Back so soon?" Remus asked as Sirius burst into the flat.

"Where's James?" Sirius asked, obviously out of breath.

"In his room…" Remus said slowly. "What's going on?"

Sirius ran to James's room and opened the door. "How long have you been lying around your room?"

"Five minutes," James said, "Give or take a week."

Sirius sighed. "You need to talk to Lily."

"What? Why? No," James said.

"Because she believed whatever the hell you told her," Sirius said. "And she's leaving for Australia in half an hour."

"_What?_" James exclaimed, jumping up from his bed, trying to understand if he cared or not.

"She's been planning to go back to Australia for a few days now," Sirius said. "And now she's really leaving. In about half an hour."

"Well that's what she does best isn't it?" James said haughtily.

"I don't care what she always does," Sirius said. "All _you _do is sulk and complain about Lily and now it's time for you to do something about it."

"Sirius, if she wants to leave then let her," James said, sitting back on his bed.

"Are you telling me that you are really going to let the girl you are madly in love with just fly half way across the country and you're going to sit here and let it _happen_?" Sirius asked.

"And are _you _telling me that you want me to give Lily another chance when all she's shown me is that she can run, lie, and make me feel like a complete idiot?"

"Yes!" Sirius cried out.

James sat there for a few seconds and then got up from the bed. "I must be crazy."

"Craziness is your best quality," Sirius said with a grin.

"What guy goes after a girl who treats him like dirt?"

"A complete idiot…now go get her!" Sirius exclaimed.

James looked up at Sirius and smiled. And then he ran out of there.

* * *

James ran as fast as he could to Lily's house and knocked on the door as hard as he could.

Kyra opened the door. "Okay James the point of knocking is not to break your hand off…"

"Yeah," James said, catching his breath. "Where's Lily?"

"She's not here," Kyra said. "She left."

"What?"

"She's leaving from work," Kyra said.

James gave Kyra a blank stare. "Okay that is something Sirius should have told me."

"Sirius?" Kyra asked quizzically. "What did-"

"No time to explain!" James called out as he started to run away.

Kyra sighed. "Why does everyone run away from me?" she mumbled to herself. "At some point I would like to be clued in!"

James laughed to himself as he sprinted down the block. He tried to avoid cars and ran a few more blocks until he reached Lily's work.

James got to the corner to see Lily look up at her office, sigh, and get into her taxi.

"LILY!" James shouted. Lily didn't hear him and told the cab driver where to go and James stood there as he watched her taxi drive away. James looked around for another taxi to get into and follow her to the airport but didn't see any at the moment.

* * *

Lily looked up at the flights and noticed that hers was going to board in a few minutes.

"Is anyone sitting here?" a voice asked. Lily shook her head. "So where are you off to?"

"Australia," Lily answered.

"Whoa, why so far away?"

Lily sighed, still not looking up at the person talking to her. "My job." Lily looked up into the blue eyes of a man who could be no more than 25. "Hello."

The man laughed. "Hi. My name is Johnson."

Lily smiled. "I'm Lily. It's nice to meet you."

"So Lily, let me ask you a question. Why are you _really _headed to Australia?"

Lily looked surprised. "What?"

"You don't look like a girl who is headed to Australia for work," Johnson noted.

"Well Johnson," Lily started. "What kind of girl do I look like?"

"Well you look like you're either getting away from something," Johnson started.

"Or?"

"Or you're going to Australia to get the death penalty."

Lily laughed. "Well I can assure you it isn't the latter."

"Okay, so what are you leaving?"

"It's a who."

"A he who?" Johnson asked.

Lily laughed. Johnson looked confused. "Sorry, you just sounded like a donkey."

"Did not!" Johnson defended. "That would have been he-haw."

Lily laughed and Johnson continued. "So, is it a he you're running from?"

Lily shrugged and then slowly nodded.

"Well that doesn't seem fair to him…_or _you."

"You don't know the situation," Lily pointed out.

"That's true," Johnson said. "But if you're running away from someone, that doesn't seem fair to anyone."

"It doesn't matter," Lily mumbled.

"It does to me," someone said from behind. Lily whirled around to see James standing a few feet away.

"James," Lily said, obviously very surprised.

"Is that the he?" Johnson whispered. Lily couldn't even bring herself to nod, she just stared at James. But Johnson knew exactly who he was, and got up to give them some time alone.

"What…" Lily trailed off, not sure of what to say. "What are you doing here?"

"You didn't say good-bye," James said.

Lily looked down and bit her lip but couldn't think of anything to say. James sighed and walked over to her.

"You can't go," James insisted.

"Why not?" Lily asked.

"Because I was just starting to get to know you…_again_," James said.

"James," Lily started.

"No, don't James me. If you leave you'll just be proving me right," James said.

"Um…the last time I checked, you _liked _being right," Lily said.

"Not when it means you'd be leaving," James said. "Lily, are you really going to leave and prove to me once again that all you do is run away when things get hard?"

"I'm not leaving to prove you right James," Lily said. "My job is in Australia. I-"

Lily couldn't say anything else because she was cut off when her flight was announced over the intercom and it was starting to board the back few rows.

Neither James nor Lily said anything but Lily looked down at her ticket number. "That's me," she whispered.

James couldn't think of anything to say but he swallowed the lump in his throat. Lily got up and started to walk towards the airplane.

"You told me you'd stay," James said. Lily turned around and James continued. "You _promised _me you wouldn't leave."

"No James," Lily said. "I said if you were good, I would stay."

"I _was _good," James insisted.

"I know…and all I did was lie to you and lead you on and…" Lily trailed off, looking off into the distance.

"But _I _was good," James repeated.

"James," Lily said. "You told me to leave. You told me I didn't belong in London anymore. You told me to get out of your life."

"And you _listened?" _James exclaimed.

"Well _yeah_."

"Well _that _was stupid!" James exclaimed.

"Okay so basically in the last minute, I've learned that you don't like being right and you don't like people listening to you," Lily said.

"Exactly!" James exclaimed. "Wait no…okay, something went wrong here." Lily just smirked. "I just thought you learned over the seven years of Hogwarts to completely ig_nore _me."

Lily smiled but didn't say anything because her row number was called over the intercom again. Lily sighed. "I have to go."

James couldn't think of anything to say so he just watched Lily walk away. Lily looked over her shoulder as James called out, "Lily!"

Lily slowly turned around and just stood there. "So that's it?"

"What?" Lily asked.

"You're just going to leave?" James asked.

Lily sighed. "I have to."

James and Lily exchanged one more glance until Lily turned around and got into the line to board her plane. James sighed and turned around to leave but ran into Johnson.

"Oh, hi," Johnson said.

James looked up. "Um, hi?" James said, not sure why this stranger was talking to him.

"Sorry," Johnson said, sticking his hand out. "I'm Johnson."

"James," James said, sticking his hand out. "You were talking to Lily earlier, weren't you?"

Johnson nodded. "And you must be the guy she's running away from."

"She told you that?"

Johnson shook his head. "No, but it was written all over her face."

James nodded sullenly and then shrugged. "Well, she's still running away."

"Did you ask her to stay?"

"Of course," James said. "I told her that running away wasn't helping anyone and she needs to stop running away when things get hard."

"Okay…but did you actually say the words 'I want you to stay?'" Johnson asked.

James looked at him and then whipped around and ran over to Lily who was next in line to board. "You can't go."

"James, we've been through this," Lily said. "I ca-"

"I want you to stay."

Lily stopped. "What?"

"I want you to stay."

Lily looked from James to the flight attendant asking to see her ticket. She took a deep breath and then sighed. "I have to go," she whispered and then walked onto the plane.

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_ONLY **ONE** MORE CHAPTER LEFT! if you review, i'll post it faster... (i have finals this week and next, so the more reviews I get, the faster I'll take a study break and post it)  
_


	14. You Just Disappeared

_**Sweatpants, Ice Cream, and Runaways  
Chapter 14**_

_It's so sad, my last chapter! I told you guys I would post fast if you reviewed. Ugh, I HATE finals. I've been studying all weekend and all day and I can't wait til I'm done and I get to go home (oh and to that anonymous reviewer: yes I have been to New York City, I live 40 mins away and I absolutely LOVE New York City!). And sorry to all of you who don't want it to be the last chapter, there's not much else to write. You know what happens. Anyway, on to the story..._

_Disclaimer: Everything you recogonize belongs to JK Rowling. The plot and the unrecognizable characters belong to me.  
_

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_

_What am I supposed to do?  
There's no way I'll survive  
I really need to turn to you  
But you're not by my side_

_'Cause you just disappeared  
Walked away from me  
And left me all alone  
Without a reason why  
Didn't even say goodbye_

James didn't even remember leaving the airport but he did know that somehow he ended up in front of Lily's house. He just stared at it, trying hard not to cry. He thought back to the time he and Lily kissed a week ago and sighed, sitting down on the front step.

Kyra opened the front door and stood there in surprise. "James?"

James looked up but didn't say anything.

Kyra sighed and sat down beside James. "Did you find Lily?"

James nodded sullenly.

"Did you talk to her?"

James nodded gloomily.

"Is she still going to Australia?"

James nodded slowly.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Kyra asked.

James gave her a look.

"I'm thinking that since you haven't said a word yet, that talking about it is a no," Kyra said.

James gave a weak smile. "I told her I wanted her to stay and she chose to go. There's nothing to talk about."

Kyra sighed and gave James a hug. "I'm sorry. I can't believe she still left."

James shrugged and stood up. "I guess I'm gonna go now."

"Go where?" Kyra asked.

James shrugged. "Home...or maybe to go throw myself off a cliff."

Kyra smiled weakly as James got up. "I'm so sorry James," Kyra murmured.

James turned around and muttered, "Me too," before walking away.

* * *

James sighed and opened the door to his flat. He closed the door and looked up at Sirius grinning up at him. James sighed and slowly trudged to his room, shutting the door behind him. 

Sirius looked over at Remus who didn't hear James come in. "I don't think it went well."

Remus looked up. "Really, and what gives you that idea?"

"Well the fact that he's practically crying, he looks like he just died, and…oh, because Lily's not with him!" Sirius exclaimed.

Remus sighed. "I can't _take _any more ice cream in this place. I'm going crazy!"

"Do you think he caught up to her? Or he's upset because he missed her?" Sirius asked.

Remus thought about it. "I think he definitely caught up to her."

"Does that mean she left anyway? Even after James begged her to stay?"

"How do we know he begged her to stay?" Remus asked.

"Why are we debating what happened when we can just go ask James?"

"Do you think he'll tell us? He ovbiously doesn't seem in the mood," Remus said.

"We've been by his side seeing him mope over Lily for many years now, he _owes _us an explanation," Sirius said. "And if that doesn't work, I'll threaten him."

Remus laughed and they got up and walked over to James's room and knocked on the door. There was no answer, so they gradually opened the door. "What happened Prongs?"

James was lying on his bed looking up at his ceiling. He didn't say anything.

"Prongs?"

James still didn't say anything.

"How's Lily?" Sirius asked. Remus glared at Sirius for asking that. Sirius shurgged as if to say 'I have no idea what else to ask.'

James glared at Sirius but sighed. "I'm exactly what I thought I was...a complete idiot."

"Yes, we know that," Sirius said. "But _why?_"

"I caught up to her at the airport but she decided to go despite what I had to say."

"She did_?" _Sirius exclaimed.

"Nooo, I'm lying," James said sarcastically. "In fact, this is how I act when I'm _happy_."

"What did she say?" Remus asked.

James shrugged. "She insists that she's leaving because of her job. She told me she wasn't leaving because of me."

"That doesn't make any _sense_," Remus exclaimed.

"I know," James mumbled. "I never realized how important her job was to her. But this is the second time she's picked her job over me."

"But there's no logical explanation," Sirius said. "I mean, last time she was young and afraid but now…"

"Now she's _older _andafraid," James said.

"There's got to be more to the story," Remus insisted.

"Look it doesn't matter okay?" James mumbled. "There's nothing else I can do."

"Oh so you're just going to sit here counting ceiling tiles?" Sirius asked.

"Of course not," James said. "I don't _have _ceiling tiles."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Just come out into the living room and talk to us."

"No," James mumbled.

"Fine, we won't talk. We'll just sit in silence," Sirius said with a shrug.

James gave Sirius a look. "Since when have you been able to be quiet?"

"Come on. We'll eat ice cream and mope around about girls," Remus noted.

"I'm fine in here," James mumbled.

"We'll drink and talk about how girls ruin everything," Sirius suggested.

"Now _there's _something I'm willing to do," James said and followed his friends to the living room.

Sirius and Remus headed toward the kitchen to get the beer and ice cream. There was a knock at the door and James slogged to the door. He opened it and gaped when he saw Lily standing there.

"I want to stay too," Lily whispered. James's face broke out into a grin and he stepped forward to embrace her, hugging her as tight as he could. "I can't believe I thought work was more important than you."

"Me neither," James murmured, not letting go of her.

"I was just afraid," Lily whispered. "I was afraid that it wouldn't work out and I'd be stuck here in London."

"It'll work out," James said softly, still hugging her tightly. "It has to."

"I know," Lily said with a smile. "The minute I stepped onto that plane I told myself I was an idiot and rushed off."

"You _were_ an idiot," James noted. They just stood there as James hugged Lily tight.

Lily smiled. "James?"

"Hmm?"

"You can let go of me now."

James smiled and brought his lips to Lily's.

"Hey Prongs, what if we throw darts at a picture of Lil-" Sirius started, but stopped when he saw James kissing Lily. Sirius stood there for a second and then went back into the kitchen.

"What'd he say?" Remus wondered, scooping ice cream out.

"Nothing," Sirius said with a smile. "He was a little preoccupied."

Remus shrugged and brought the bowls into the living room but he too stopped when he saw James kissing Lily. He also stood there confused for a second and then walked back into the kitchen.

"I guess we don't need that picture of Lily," Remus said. "We can just throw darts at her."

Sirius laughed and Remus and Sirius decided it was safe to walk back into the living room. James and Lily turned and saw them standing there.

"So…Lily's back," Sirius said as a statement.

"Oh my gosh! She is? I had no idea!" James joked.

"So when's the wedding?" Remus joked.

"Uh oh, did we forget to tell you?" Lily teased. "We eloped."

"You can't elope because _I _have to be best man," Sirius said proudly.

"Don't I have a say in this?" James asked.

"Nope," Sirius responded at once.

"Oh, well as long as we have that cleared up," James said with a laugh.

"So, can I ask a question?" Remus spoke up.

"Of course," James said.

"Can we _please _throw away all the ice cream in our freezer?" Remus pleaded causing Lily, Sirius, and James to laugh.

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_All done! review and tell me what you thought. For all you who were wondering: yes, I watched the season finale of Friends but this wasn't supposed to be like that. I mean, I can see why you guys think that this is like Friends, but I didn't mean for it to be that way. I just thought it would be cute for James to open the door to see Lily standing there instead of them making up at the airport. _

_Anyway, summer is almost here (two and half days), meaing I'll be working all summer and hanging out, so forgive me if I don't post another long story for awhile (I have a few short one-short fics to post). Thanks to everyone who read this story! ...I can't believe it's over :o(_


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